Nagorno Garabagh

A large part of the territory of present-day Armenia is the historical Azerbaijani land, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

There are numerous books, maps, confirming this, the president said at the nationwide festivities on the occasion of Novruz, the national holiday of the Azerbaijani people, in Baku March 19, APA reports.

“Azerbaijan is an active member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), while Armenia is left completely out of all regional co-operation formats. This is natural because Armenia is isolated from all issues and does not participate in any regional cooperation format, not because we do not allow it - though I think it is a major factor – but because Armenia is no of interest in political, economic, or transport terms,” the Azerbaijani head of state said.

President Aliyev stressed that Armenia is not independent from the political point of view, and it is a satellite country.

He noted that the decisions made in Armenia concerning the country’s future do not make much sense.

“There is no investment being made in Armenia’s economy, investors are not interested in this. There are several factors involved: first of all, on the one hand, bribery, theft, corruption, on the other hand, mass emigration from Armenia,” the president said.

President Aliyev noted that the investment climate in Armenia is disastrous and market restrictions prevent investment in this country.

“The Armenian people must seriously contemplate and understand that the Armenian leadership's aggressive policy against Azerbaijan has no end. Azerbaijan will restore its territorial integrity anyway. However, Armenia has been completely isolated from regional cooperation processes in the region over the past few years. They have been defeated on the political scene, and all leading international organizations support Azerbaijan's position,” he said.

The Azerbaijani president went on to say: “The UN, its Security Council, the OSCE, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Parliament, the PACE and other international organizations recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and have passed numerous decisions and resolutions demanding the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This is a political defeat for Armenia. They have been defeated at the diplomatic front.”

Ilham Aliyev also touched upon the so-called “referendum” recently held in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“No countries have recognized the so-called “referendum” in Nagorno-Karabakh. No international organizations have accepted the results of the “referendum”. This once again confirms that Nagorno-Karabakh is an ancient Azerbaijani land and integral part of Azerbaijan,” he said.

“Armenia is a dead-end country in terms of transport policy, and we must openly say that we’ve done it,” he added.

The president also referred to the Azerbaijani army’s brilliant victory over Armenians during the April battles in 2016.

“Armenia is still unable to recover from the defeat, which it faced two years ago on the battlefield. Today, the Azerbaijani flag waves on the once occupied territories of Aghdere, Fuzuli and Jabrayil districts. The day will come when our flag will wave in Shusha and Khankendi,” he added.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can be resolved only within the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, President Aliyev emphasized.

“There is no other way. I’ve repeatedly stated and would like to reiterate that Azerbaijan can never allow a second Armenian state to be established on its historical lands. I’ve repeatedly said that a large part of the territory of today’s Armenia is the historical Azerbaijani land. There are numerous books, maps, confirming this. On those maps, most of the toponyms in the territory of today’s Armenia are of Azerbaijani origin,” he said.

He said historical books point out that at the beginning of the 19th century, the absolute majority of the Irevan Khanate’s population, more precisely 80 percent, was Azerbaijanis.

“This is history, historical reality. Let those, who do not know about this, know this; and most importantly, the Azerbaijani youth should know this. They should know that a big part of the territory of present-day Armenia is the historical land of Azerbaijan. We never forget this and will not forget,” the president added.