Ilham Aliyev once again used the pro-Azeri statements and the traditional accusations against Armenians on an international platform regarding the Artsakh conflict resolution. “Nagorno-Karabakh is a part of Azerbaijan. This is a historical fact and international rights norms are at the basis of that. The whole world recognized Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. Nagorno-Karabakh is an inseparable part of our country,” President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev announced during the discussion panel for the Artsakh conflict at the Munich Security Conference. He also said that Armenia allegedly carried out aggression against Azerbaijan in the 1990s. “Twenty percent of our territory is occupied, one million Azeris are refugees, and our people suffered from ethnic cleansing. The Khojaly genocide also took place.”
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan responded to Aliyev’s statements by first asking that he not stray that far from history. “When Tigran the Great was negotiating with the Roman general Pompey, there was no state in the South Caucasus that was called ‘Azerbaijan.’ Therefore, I advise you not to go that far. I can go even further, but I will not because that is not the right approach,” the Prime Minister said. Nikol Pashinyan then emphasized that he does not agree with Aliyev. He said that Artsakh was never a part of independent Azerbaijan. “Artsakh became a part of Azerbaijan under the USSR. When we speak about territorial integrity, we need to understand what country’s territorial integrity we are speaking of.”
According to Pashinyan, Artsakh became independent from the USSR and Soviet Azerbaijan the same way Azerbaijan became independent from the USSR. “As far as Khojaly goes, former President of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutallibov said in an interview that the Khojaly provocation was organized by the Azeri opposition in order to remove him from power, which is what happened; Mutallibov was removed.”
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Luiza Sukiasyan
