YEREVAN, JULY 10, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov’s statement that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict must be settled based on the territorial principle is a diplomatic nonsense, Vice-Speaker of the Armenian Parliament and Speaker of the Republican Party told ARMENPRESS.

“The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs have made at least five statements mentioning that the issue must be solved based on three fundamental principles: peaceful settlement, right to self-determination and territorial integrity. Moreover, recently the European Parliament once again reaffirmed the necessity of the self-determination right. In addition, not for a second has the Republic of Artsakh ever been part of the independent Azerbaijan, therefore using the term Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity for Artsakh is a diplomatic nonsense”, Sharmazanov said.

Sharmazanov branded Mammadyarov’s statement that Azerbaijan has thousand-year old history is diplomacy as hilarious.

“A state unity called “Azerbaijan” appeared in the world on May 27, 1918. As much as Mammadyarov would want to find a state called Azerbaijan even a day earlier that this, would be in vain.

If 99 years is millennia for Azerbaijan, then mathematical calculations are done in a completely different way there”, Sharmazanov said.

According to him, in his speech Mammadyarov mentions the Aghvank medieval state citing “the thousand-year diplomatic history of Azerbaijan”.

“I believe here Mammadyarov is making an unforgivable mistake, because not more or less he is throwing down the gauntlet against Ilham Aliyev’s father Heydar Aliyev, who had always said “one nation, one state” when speaking about Turkey and Azerbaijan. I.e. Heydar Aliyev had always said that Azerbaijanis and Turks are one nation, while the Turks have come to the region not earlier than the 40s of the 11th century”, Sharmazanov said, adding that he wouldn’t be surprised if next time Mammadyarov declares the Roman Empire to be Azerbaijani as well.

Sharmazanov said he finds the Azeri FM’s statement that Artsakh is a “historic” territory of Azerbaijan to be complete nonsense.

“Azerbaijan has a history of only 99 years, while Artsakh is a historically Armenian land, which was mentioned by ancient Greek historians. Let them have a look at their records, which clearly mention that until the crossing point of the rivers Kur and Araks it is the Armenian territory”, he said.