BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16
Trend:
Any solution which will be achieved as a result of peaceful negotiation must provide preservation of internationally recognized territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the panel discussions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict held as part of the Munich Security Conference, Trend reports.
"First of all, I would like to express gratitude to chairman Ischinger for organizing this event. I told Mr Ischinger now that there was an opportunity to deliver the messages from Armenian and Azerbaijani leadership several years ago, in Davos and predecessor of Mr. Pashinyan was supposed to attend but last moment he cancelled his participation. So I am glad that finally, we get to the point, so we will be able to deliver the messages and to answer the questions which I think will be enough today. So, first of all, on the resolution. In order to talk about how to resolve the conflict, first we need to go back and look to the history of the issue. Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan. This is historical truth, and this is based on the international law norms," President Ilham Aliyev said.
"The territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized by the whole world, and Nagorno-Karabakh is an integrated part of our country. From historical point of view, back in 1805 the khan of Karabakh Ibrahim khan signed a treaty with general of Russian Empire Tsitsianov. Under this treaty, the Karabakh khanate, Azerbaijani Karabakh khanate as an independent country became under the rule of the Russian Empire. In that treaty which was called Kurakchay treaty-the text of this treaty is on internet-nothing is said about Armenian population of Karabakh. Other treaties were signed in 1813 and 1828-Gulustan and Turkmanchay.Under these treaties the rest part of Azerbaijan became part of Russian Empire and Dagestan, Georgia and Armenia also. So, this is a historical part of the issue. Then during the period when Russian Empire collapsed, and Georgian and Azerbaijani Democratic Republics were established, one of the first decrees of Azerbaijani Democratic Republic in 1918 was to transfer Yerevan from Azerbaijan to Armenia and to announce it a capital of Armenia. This is also a historical fact. If you give something to someone that means that this something belonged to you. In 1921, the Caucasus bureau of the Bolshevik party made a decision to retain Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan, to retain and not to transfer as some Armenian historians want to present. This is also the historical fact and the other historical fact is that in 1923 the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic issued a decree on the creation of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous district inside Azerbaijan," President Ilham Aliyev said.
"So, this is a history, and then, in the end of 80s Armenia launched an aggression against Azerbaijan. 300,000 Azerbaijanis were deported from the territory of Armenia.And then in the beginning of 90s Armenia already launched an aggression against Azerbaijan Republic and as a result of that aggression almost 20 percent of our territories are under occupation and one million of Azerbaijanis became refugees and IDPs.Our people were subject of ethnic cleansing and in 1992, previous Armenian regime committed a war crime, genocide of Khojaly. As a result, 613 innocent civilians among them 106 women and 63 children were brutally killed. More than ten countries recognize the Khojaly genocide. Coming to the international law issue,once again, Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions demanding withdrawal of Armenian troops, from the occupied territories. This resolutions are not resolved. Therefore, any solution which will be achieved as a result of peaceful negotiation must provide preservation of internationally recognized territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. I will now conclude in order not to use more time than it was planned. Thank you," President Ilham Aliyev added.