16:27 - 15.01.2021

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January 15, Fineko/abc.az. When the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region was created, the goal of including Shusha in this region was also clear, in order to gradually erase the presence of Azerbaijanis here, to armenize this territory and make Azerbaijanis a minority in this territory of their own republic. That was the goal.

ABC.AZ reports that this was stated by President Ilham Aliyev, when speaking near the bust and mausoleum of Molla Panah Vagif in Shusha.

The head of state noted that during the time of great leader Heydar Aliyev - in 1969-1982, as a result of his policies, including the construction of the railway from Yevlakh, Aghdam to Khankendi, the establishment of enterprises in Nagorno-Karabakh and the arrival of specialists from different parts of Azerbaijan to these enterprises, the national composition here changed significantly in favor of the Azerbaijani people, and in 1982 Azerbaijanis made up 25 percent of the population of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region.

"If Heydar Aliyev had stayed in Azerbaijan at that time, the Azerbaijanis would have been the majority in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region for the next 10 years, and thus there would never have been any conflict or separatism here," the president said.