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Varuzhan Geghamyan, an Armenian expert on Middle East and South Caucasus, has reflected on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s latest statement, where he admitted that his country had been defeated for 30 years.

“For many years, for almost 30 years, we had been represented in the international arena as a defeated country – both in sports and in the political arena. Difficult as it is to acknowledge that, it is what it is. In other words, we must know and tell the truth the way it is,” Aliyev said on Thursday.

“Aliyev’s confession gives a pretty complete answer to what really happened because of the capitulation. Armenia was transformed from a country which defeated Azerbaijan into a loser,” Geghamyan wrote on Facebook on Friday.

“Recalling Aliyev's statements about Azerbaijan being forced to recognize Artsakh's independence behind closed doors [in October 2016], it immediately becomes clear what chances Azerbaijan actually had to win if the de facto pro-Turkish group had not seized power in Armenia.

“The regime that destroyed the real victory is now deceiving large masses of the Armenian people with a virtual victory, which is spread by the media empire affiliated to it,” he said.