PRESS TV, Iran
Jan 28 2008

Aliyev: Yerevan belongs to Azerbaijan
Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:21:20

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
The Azerbaijani President says Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia,
was part of Azerbaijan which was ruled under a feudal system.

During a recent visit to a border region, President Ilham Aliyev said
that historically Yerevan and 135 nearby villages had been part of
the Azerbaijan Republic and belonged to the nation, IRIB reported,
citing Azeri news agencies.

He claimed that in 1918, the Azerbaijani rulers had permitted the
ethnic Armenians to settle in the region but they had ‘betrayed the
Azeri and forced them to leave the region’.

Earlier, the Azerbaijani mission to the European Council filed a
petition, calling for Yerevan and its nearby villages ‘to be
returned’ to the Azerbaijan Republic.

Aliyev had said that Armenians were guests in Yerevan, during a visit
to a border area on January 17 and that the war with Armenia was not
over.

The remarks may further strain ties between the two neighbors which
fought a war over their territorial disputes in 1988-1999.