From the speech of Great Leader Heydar Aliyev at the opening ceremony of the new building of the representative office of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in Baku

11 October 2002

Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Zangezur region, other parts of Azerbaijan – all these were one whole territory, they were the territory of Azerbaijan. However, in order to realize their insidious intentions, the forces hostile to the people of Azerbaijan were making negotiations about the territory of Nakhchivan, and were trying to separate it from Azerbaijan. Finally, in 1921, as a result of the Kars Treaty and then the Moscow Treaty – those treaties were signed by the Republic of Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia and Armenia – it was proved that Nakhchivan was the territory of Azerbaijan. Due to its isolation from the mainland of Azerbaijan, it was given the autonomy status.