President Ilham Aliyev again declared on Thursday that Azerbaijan will eventual gain control over not only Nagorno-Karabakh but also Yerevan and other “historic Azerbaijani lands” in Armenia.
“The Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be settled only within the framework of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territorial integrity,” Aliyev said in a speech delivered during celebrations of Nowruz, a public holiday marking the ancient Persian New Year.
“After that we will return to our ancient lands -- to Yerevan, Geychay and Zangezur,” he said. “These are our historic lands. The young generation must know that that our lands are not confined to the territory of modern-day Azerbaijan.”
“We must and we will return to those lands. Therefore we must work hard every day to bring that day closer,” he added, according to the APA news agency.
Aliyev has repeatedly made such public statements in the past, most recently during a March 2014 trip to Azerbaijan’s second largest city of Gyanja. He said there that Armenia is a “fascist state” created on “historic Azerbaijani lands” that will eventually ben won back by Azerbaijan.