YEREVAN. – Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has never been a part of Musavatist Azerbaijan and was never included in Musavatist Azerbaijan, and therefore it cannot be a part of modern-day Azerbaijan.

Dean of Faculty of History at Yerevan State University, historian Edik Minasyan, stated the above-said at a press conference on Wednesday. 

In his words, when the collapse of the Soviet Union was inevitable and apparent, the Azerbaijan SSR Supreme Council (parliament) convened a special session on August 30, 1991, during which it was stated that Azerbaijan was seceding from the USSR, re-instating its independence, and becoming the substitute of Musavatist Azerbaijan.

“This means that Karabakh and Nakhichevan could not be a part of it because these territories were not included in [Musavatist] Azerbaijan, from 1918 to 1920,” Minasyan stressed. 

In addition, as per the historian, the second important legal document that ensures the Republic of Artsakh’s (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR) right to independence is the autonomous formations’ right to secede from a republic that wishes to secede from the USSR. Minasyan noted that this law was adopted on April 3, 1990, and Azerbaijan also should follow this law. 

“In other words, favorable conditions were created, from a legal point of view, for declaring the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh,” the historian concluded.