Aliyev Responds to Pashinyan's 'Artsakh is Armenia' Statement

The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, addressed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict during the 'Valdai' conference held in Sochi, commenting on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement that 'Artsakh is Armenia,' according to aravot.am.

Aliyev noted, 'I would like to comment on the statement of the Prime Minister of Armenia, almost verbatim: 'Karabakh is Armenia and that's it.' First of all, this is a mild way of saying it is a lie… Karabakh is Azerbaijan and that's an exclamation mark,' said Aliyev.

The Azerbaijani president also responded to Pashinyan's assertion that the resolution of the conflict should be acceptable to Armenia, Artsakh, and Azerbaijan. 'The Prime Minister of Armenia often says that the solution to the conflict must be acceptable to the peoples of Armenia, Karabakh, and Azerbaijan. I must say that the concept of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh does not exist. There is a population of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has comprised both Azerbaijani and Armenian residents, who have had equal rights,' Aliyev stated.

According to him, the acceptable decision for Azerbaijan is the restoration of the country's territorial integrity.