Javid Huseynov [javid@azeris.com]
and from Armenian Foreign Ministry record, interviewing the initiators of Karabakh separatism:
“Q– Not also Nakhichevan ?
Mikoyan: You see, as a matter of principle, Nakhichevan is also an Armenian land. It’s a pity that the authorities of that region did everything during the last decades toward changing the ethnic proportions of Nakhichevan, so that now only one or two percent of the population is Armenian.
Q– I think presently there are not more than 5,000 Armenians out of a population of approximately 250,000 people. That is, there are a quarter of a million Turks in Nakhichevan, as against only 5,000 Armenians.
Mikoyan: But if we compare that with those Armenian lands which are now in Turkey, one must understand that even if there are very few Armenians living on our ancient lands, still we believe those territories to be Armenian in spite of the ethnic change, especially when the change is realized through actions we will never forgive or forget.