Armenia must return 'enclave' and 'non-enclave villages' - Ilham Aliyev

Baku/11.01.01.24/Turan: The issue of eight villages still under occupation is constantly on the agenda of negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev said the previous day in an interview with local TV channels.

"This issue is also discussed during my contacts with the Armenian Prime Minister, including during a brief conversation in St Petersburg. This topic is also on the agenda of the delimitation commissions. The upcoming meeting of the commissions in late January will have one topic: the issue of delimitation of the Gazakh-Tovuz region," Aliyev stressed.

According to him, Armenia wants to take the maps of the 1970s as a basis for delimitation.  In his words, Armenia "was created on historical Azerbaijani lands". Yerevan was handed over to Armenians the day after the proclamation of the Azerbaijani People's Republic in 1918. "It was justified by the fact that in return Armenia would give up its territorial claims to Azerbaijan. However, this did not happen and Armenia grew completely arrogant," Aliyev said.

After Sovietization in April 1920, the Soviet government gave a significant part of Zangezur to Armenia in November.

According to him, "territorial gifts" were made to Armenia until May 1969.

In delimiting the border, either maps from the period of the Azerbaijani People's Republic or from the period of Sovietization should be used as a basis for delimitation of the border.

He explained his position by stating that the maps of the 70s reflect already "transferred Azerbaijani territories to Armenia".

He further noted the need to return all 8 Azerbaijani villages occupied by Armenians in the early 90s.

"There are enclave and non-enclave villages. Four non-enclave villages should be unconditionally returned to Azerbaijan. As for the enclave villages, a separate expert group should be set up to discuss the situation. We believe that all enclaves should be returned. Conditions should be created on the roads leading to these enclaves for the return of people who lived there," Aliyev said. At the same time, he acknowledged that one Armenian enclave is under Azerbaijani control.

"We will not move a step away from our positions taken after May 2021 and September 2022," Aliyev said. According to him, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces have not occupied a single settlement in Armenia.

"No one has ever lived on the heights where we are standing. But today Armenia continues occupation of our villages and this is unacceptable," Aliyev said.-06B-