"Speaking of interreligious dialogue, we must not only mention the positive aspects but also we must severely condemn attempts to link conflicts with a religious factor," the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has said it at the 2nd Baku Summit of World Religious Leaders, Eurasia Diary reports citing ONA.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that one of these examples is the long-lasting Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno Garabagh: "Nagorno Garabagh is an ancient, historic land of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani people have lived and created in this land for centuries. All the toponyms in the territory of Nagorno-Garabagh are of Azerbaijani origin in ancient maps, as well as maps of Tsarist Russia published in the early 20th century.  Garabagh Khanate was the Azerbaijani Khanate. It was only in the early 19th century that the Armenians moved to Nagorno Garabagh and in the 20th century, the national composition was greatly deformed there. As for the maps drawn between the republics after the Bolshevik revolution, the Bolshevik government decided to keep Nagorno-Garabagh within Azerbaijan. This is a very important point. Because Armenian historians, who have mastered in the distortions of history, say that a decision has been made to hand over Nagorno Garabagh to Azerbaijan. However, it is not so, historical documents show it. It was decided to keep Nagorno Garabagh as part of Azerbaijan. It also reflects historical and political points. However, on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, nationalist forces in Nagorno Garabagh and Armenia started aggression against Azerbaijan. As a result of military aggression, about 20% of our lands, including Nagorno Garabagh and 7 surrounding areas, were occupied. The genocide was committed against the Azerbaijani people in these areas. All our historical monuments, tombs and mosques have been destroyed by Armenians.”

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• Ilham Aliyev