Aliyev Claims “Western Zangezur Was Unjustly Given to Armenia”

ANKARA — Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has once again asserted that Zangezur is “Azerbaijani land that was deliberately handed over to Armenia to complicate the lives of Azerbaijanis.” He made these remarks yesterday in Ankara during the inauguration ceremony of the Igdir-Nakhchivan gas pipeline.

“As you know, Nakhchivan is ancient Azerbaijani land. However, for more than a century, it has been separated from Azerbaijan’s main territory. This is because, in 1920, five months after the fall of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Soviet authorities removed Western Zangezur from Azerbaijan and annexed it to Armenia. This severed the land connection between Azerbaijan’s main territory and Nakhchivan, which is an inseparable part of our country. This century-old injustice has had severe consequences for our compatriots living in Nakhchivan,” Aliyev stated.

While speaking about Nakhchivan, Aliyev once again took the opportunity to praise his father, former President Heydar Aliyev, crediting him for keeping the autonomous republic under Baku’s control.

“When the First Karabakh War began, Armenia occupied Karabakh while simultaneously blockading Nakhchivan. The Armenians also planned to occupy Nakhchivan, but my father, Heydar Aliyev, who was leading Nakhchivan at the time, did not allow that to happen. The people of Nakhchivan united, defended their homeland, and repelled the invaders,” Aliyev said.

However, in his speech, Aliyev did not present any factual evidence to support his claim that Armenia intended to occupy Nakhchivan in the 1990s. He also avoided mentioning that after the military clashes in the Sadarak-Yeraskh area in the spring of 1992, Heydar Aliyev engaged in separate negotiations with Yerevan, which effectively led to a ceasefire along the Armenia-Nakhchivan border. Additionally, Black Garden, one of the most well-known books on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by Thomas de Waal, states that in 1992-93, when Heydar Aliyev needed to leave Nakhchivan by plane, his flights were pre-approved by the Armenian government.

Yesterday’s inauguration ceremony was attended remotely from Ankara by the presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey. On-site, near the Nakhchivan-Turkey border, Azerbaijani and Turkish energy ministers Parviz Shahbazov and Alparslan Bayraktar participated in the event. They symbolically opened the valve of the 80-kilometer-long pipeline, which was constructed in just a year and a half.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed confidence that the launch of the Igdir-Nakhchivan gas pipeline would further strengthen Turkish-Azerbaijani relations and enhance Ankara’s influence in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

“The fraternal ties between Turkey and Azerbaijan continue to develop based on the principle of ‘One Nation, Two States.’ This progress extends across all sectors, from trade to defense. The Igdir-Nakhchivan gas pipeline will complement our strategic energy projects while also symbolizing the inseparable connection between Turkey and Nakhchivan,” Erdoğan stated.