The Soviet Union prevented Azerbaijan from developing as a democratic republic by occupying it in 1920, President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Al Arabiya. He made the statement while responding to a question about the corridor to Nakhchivan, explaining that the region became an enclave because the USSR “took” Western Zangezur from Azerbaijan and transferred it to Armenia in 1920.
“I should go into a little bit of history and just explain to the people who are watching us how it happened that Azerbaijan was divided into two parts. So it was done in the first months of the Sovietization of Azerbaijan. When the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917, Azerbaijan established the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. It was the first democratic republic in the Muslim world, established in May 1918. It existed until April 1920, when the Russian army invaded Azerbaijan and occupied it. The Bolsheviks, who made a revolution in 1917, lied to the people. Their slogans were “factories to workers, land to farmers, freedom to the peoples.” We established our own state, but the Bolsheviks took it from us. In April 1920, the Russian army invaded Azerbaijan and occupied it. In November 1920, just several months after that, the Soviet Russian government decided to take Zangezur — what we call Western Zangezur — from Azerbaijan and give it to Armenia. That’s how Azerbaijan became divided into two: the mainland and Nakhchivan, with Western Zangezur in between,” the Azerbaijani president emphasized.
Aliyev also commented on current issues between Azerbaijan and Russia.
“We are not responsible for the deterioration of relations. We only respond in a constructive and legal manner, but we will never tolerate any sign or demonstration of aggression or disrespect towards us,” he stated.
Baku began distancing itself from Moscow at the end of 2024, following the downing of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane over Grozny by Russian air defenses. Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to acknowledge the country’s responsibility for the incident, which resulted in the plane crashing and 38 people on board losing their lives.
