Yerevan /Mediamax/. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev urged Armenia to “stop raising the issue of the status of Karabakh.”

Speaking today at the Global Baku Forum, he, in particular, stated:

“There was a verbal agreement that the issue of the “status of Karabakh” would not be raised. But unfortunately, we hear statements from the Armenian government about the “status” of the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh”, which is absolutely counterproductive. There is no “Nagorno-Karabakh”. The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region was abolished at the end of 1991 with the decision of the Azerbaijani parliament. There is no such administrative structure in our territory. Therefore, any mention of status will only lead to new problems. The Armenian government must understand this and refrain from trying to rewrite history.”

He said that by questioning the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, Yerevan is forcing Baku to take similar steps in relation to the territory of Armenia.

“If Armenia continues to question our territorial integrity, Azerbaijan will have no choice but to question the territorial integrity of Armenia. Moreover, from a historical point of view, Azerbaijan has more rights to do this,” Aliyev said.

He said that in November 1920, six months after the Sovietization of Azerbaijan, the Soviet authorities “took the historical part of our country – Zangezur – and annexed it to Armenia.