Artak Beglaryan: Artsakh has been Armenian for millennia and will remain so forever

Artsakh has been Armenian for thousands of years and will remain so forever thanks to our national will and efforts, Artsakh State Minister Artak Beglaryan wrote on his Facebook page, in response to the recent interview of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

“Aliyevs have come and gone through the turmoil of centuries, Armenian Artsakh has always remained standing. It is obvious that in his last interview, Ilham Aliyev aimed to once again mislead his society and the international audience by feeding them lies about Artsakh. In particular,

1 ․ Aliyev is once again “right” when he says that there is no territory called Nagorno Karabakh in Azerbaijan. Yes, Nagorno Karabakh is outside the territory of Azerbaijan, it has never been and will never be in the territory of Azerbaijan.

2 ․ His claims about the status of Artsakh are just manifestations of self-deception and lies, because despite the existing losses and difficulties, the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) is functioning fully, as it did in the pre-war period. We have well-established state institutions and attributes, an unbreakable will to develop and strengthen them. And the people and the government of Artsakh will never accept any de facto or de jure status within Azerbaijan, we will achieve the international recognition of our independence through a consistent struggle.

3 ․ Another claim of falsehood was the claim that there are now 25,000 inhabitants in Artsakh, while about 115,000-120,000 people live in Artsakh. The context of his statement is interesting here, because through it he admits and accepts that the fate and future of Artsakh depends on the people of Artsakh, he tries to falsify the reality with a simple trick.

4 ․ He falsifies history again, rightly stating that the NKAR was an artificial union, but presents it as a step against Azerbaijan, ignoring the fact that in fact no one asked the Armenian people when Artsakh was annexed by Azerbaijan. The truth is that the conflict started in the pre-Soviet period and unjust decisions were made in the first years of the Soviet Union, against the will of the population of Artsakh, which is entirely inhabited by Armenians. Therefore, it is not appropriate to consider the conflict since 1988, one must accept the legal and historical facts that in 1921, Artsakh was not only annexed to Azerbaijan, but then and before the collapse of the USSR, the borders of Nagorno Karabakh were artificially and greatly reduced (including in 1928 the NKAR was cut off from Armenian SSR), the demographic picture was artificially changed, a white genocide took place. In fact, referring to the formation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, it turns out that Aliyev recognizes the need to take into account its basis (including the border and demographic picture) in the settlement of the conflict.

5 ․ If Armenians starting moving to Artsakh since the beginning of the 19th century, then with whom did the invaders Panah and Ibrahim khans fight in the middle of the 18th century? Who defeated the Ottoman troops in Artsakh at the beginning of the 18th century? In what language are the inscription in Gandzasar? And the medieval inscriptions of Dadivank, were the ancient and medieval foreign historians bribed while testifying about the Armenian Artsakh and so on and so forth,” he said.

Beglaryan, symbolically attached to the post a photo from a June 1 event, where a group of children from the settlements near the front line are the symbols of Artsakh eternity.