The encouragement of the Maragha option for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue by Azerbaijan reveals the real intention of the Azerbaijani leadership — to prepare peoples not for peace, but for the implementation of violence against other peoples. This was stated on 14 October during a meeting with journalists by the press spokesperson of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Anna Naghdalyan, referring to the statement of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
“I would like to refer to the statement of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, which he made a few days ago, I quote: ‘after the liberation of the territories, they will be rebuilt, as was the case with the Shikharkh settlement of the NKAO.’ This was a quote from his direct speech. Shikharkh is the Maragha village of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani president mentions the once flourishing, entirely Armenian Maragha settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh, which had a population of 5,000 Armenians, whose population was annihilated in 1992 by the Azerbaijani armed forces, and the settlement continues to remain under Azerbaijani occupation to this day. Now the Azerbaijani president states before the whole world that this settlement has been rebuilt and populated with Azerbaijanis. It is noteworthy that this statement by the Azerbaijani president comes within the framework of the Azerbaijani approach to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue and is presented as the best option and vision for a solution,” Naghdalyan noted.
She stressed that in reality, the presentation of this vision demonstrates that Azerbaijan’s approach is that it wants Artsakh without its indigenous people and population. “The encouragement of the Maragha option for the settlement of the issue reveals the real intention of the Azerbaijani leadership — to prepare peoples not for peace, but for the implementation of violence against other peoples. This further underscores our priority regarding the issue of the physical, existential security of the people of Artsakh,” Anna Naghdalyan emphasized.
She added that the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people will never allow new atrocities, new genocidal acts in Artsakh. “Their resistance is a pan-Armenian issue, which is best formulated in the commitment undertaken by the authorities of the Republic of Armenia before the people of Artsakh on 5 August in Stepanakert. Let us clearly record this,” concluded the press spokesperson of the RA MFA.
