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President Aliyev Says Azerbaijan Does Not Have Territorial Claims Against Armenia

By Ilham Karimli April 19, 2021

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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev while attending the "New Vision for South Caucasus: Post-Conflict Development and Cooperation" conference, held in Baku. / President.Az

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said last week although the Zangazur region and the city of Iravan, the capital of modern-day Armenia, are historical lands of Azerbaijan, Baku does not make claims to these territories.

The president explained that both Zangazur and Iravan were inhabited by indigenous Azerbaijanis before they were ceded to Armenia by the Soviet government a century ago.

“When I say that Zangazur is the ancient land of Azerbaijan, it is true. Zangazur was ceded to Armenia in 1920 - 101 years ago. Before that, the land belonged to us,” President Aliyev said. “Azerbaijanis lived around Lake Goycha, which they call Sevan today. This is also a fact. If you look at the maps of the early twentieth century, you will find Goycha, not Sevan.”

President Aliyev added that the same can be said also about Iravan (modern-day Yerevan), an ancient Azerbaijani city where the traces of Azerbaijanis have been erased through vandalistic acts following the city’s transfer to Armenia in 1918.

“They [Armenians] destroyed the historical part of Iravan. These are all facts. Azerbaijanis lived there, including my ancestors. These are all facts, but that does not mean that we are making territorial claims [against Armenia],” he explained.

Zangazur is a historical region that forms the southern part of modern-day Armenia and a small portion of the territory of Azerbaijan in the country’s Zangilan, Gubadli and Lachin districts.

The Zangazur region, inhabited by the Turkic tribes, was a part of Seljuk empire during its 150-year-long rule in the 11th and 12th centuries, which has further expanded the Turkish-Islamic influence within the region. Starting from the 13th century, Zangazur was invaded by Mongol-Tatar tribes and the Timurid Empire. From the 15th century to 18th century, the region was a part of the medieval Azerbaijani states of Garagoyunlu, Aghgoyunlu and Safavids.

Demographic changes in Zangazur took place during the reign of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. As a result of the massacres committed by Armenian armed groups in 1905-1907 and 1914-1920 in Zangazur, about half a million indigenous Azerbaijanis and other Muslim locals were killed. In those years, 115 Muslim villages in Zangazur have been wiped off the face of the earth.

Shortly after the Bolshevik forces subjugated the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on April 28, 1920, a major part of the Zangazur region was ceded to the newly-established Armenian SSR on November 30, 1920. As a result, Nakhchivan became an exclave separated from the Azerbaijani mainland.

In 1933, the territory of the Armenian SSR was divided into districts and the name Zangazur was changed with new district names such as Gafan, Gorus, Garakilsa (Sisian), and Mehri.

Iravan was ceded to Armenia before Zangazur on May 29, 1918. The annexation of the city to Armenia has taken its toll on its indigenous Azerbaijani population and the cultural heritage of Azerbaijanis. According to 1916 data, there were over 373,000 Azerbaijanis living in Iravan, however, only 12,000 Azerbaijanis were registered in census files in 1922.

In 1988, Azerbaijanis living in Zangazur were expelled forcibly from their ancestral lands as part of the last phase of their illegal deportation by Armenia. Hundreds of historical, material and cultural monuments belonging to Azerbaijanis were destroyed following the brutal displacement of the Azerbaijanis through acts of terror and ethnic cleansing.

More than 250,000 Azerbaijanis have been deported from Zangazur, Iravan and other regions as part of Armenia’s state-run ethnic cleansing policy in 1988-1989. Today, no single ethnic Azerbaijani lives in modern-day Armenia.

President Aliyev said Azerbaijanis will be back in Iravan.

“I don't know if you heard it or not, I said we would go back there [Iravan]. But I did not say that we would return there on a tank. If we return to the Zangazur corridor and use the road there, why don't we return to Iravan? I think we will do it when the time comes,” the Azerbaijani president said.

Zangazur corridor will restore the shortest connection between Azerbaijan’s mainland and its southwestern exclave of Nakhchivan. The restoration of the corridor was included in the tripartite ceasefire signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.