13:31     15 April 2021    

The whole world knows my position, the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples know it. I have always proceeded from life. Ilham Heydar oglu was always a witness of that.

And I have always frankly and honestly expressed my position, sometimes coming under a barrage of criticism, on how to resolve this problem. Ilham Heydar oglu said absolutely sincerely and honestly that we wanted to resolve it peacefully. I was a witness to all that and a supporter. So today I really want to congratulate both the people of Azerbaijan and the people of Armenia on the end of this sad, if not more, period in their history. Well done for the President to have said that we want to turn this page. This is my position, this is my wish. May God grant that this trouble is leveled out, so that there are no splinters in the souls and hearts of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples. I am absolutely convinced that there will not be any attacks on the Armenians, settling scores or attempts to exact revenge on the part of my friend and brother. He is a civilized and well-educated person. I always say that he graduated from the best university of the Soviet Union in Soviet times – MGIMO. He is the best educated and civilized person of all the presidents of the post-Soviet space. I have always spoken about this in public too. So I have answered the question – I congratulated two people. And I want to note his immense role in resolving this problem. Ilham Heydar oglu and I talked about it yesterday, and he feels it now. I guessed it right – it would seem that, yes, victory has been achieved, that's all, the issue has been resolved, but you wake up the next morning and realize that this is only the first step. So much more remains to be done in these territories four times the size of Luxembourg or equal to Lebanon, not smaller than Lebanon. It will be an even longer and hardest epic. I would very much like it to be a peaceful epic," noted Lukashenko.