President Aliyev: Armenian PM deliberately undermines format of negotiations
By Aisha Jabbarova
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan deliberately undermines the format and substance of negotiations over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Aliyev made the remarks addressing a high-level meeting to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations held on the sidelines of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 21.
Aliyev described Pashinyan's statement that “Karabakh is Armenia” as a serious blow to negotiations.
"He [Pashinyan] puts groundless conditions to the negotiation process. His unacceptable so-called seven conditions to Azerbaijan have been rejected by us. We have only one condition to achieve the peace. The armed forces of Armenia must withdraw from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The entire world recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as integral part of Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said.
The president also reminded that the Armenian PM recently announced the establishment of civilian militia consisting of tens of thousands of civilians who will be forced to undertake military actions against Azerbaijan.
“This clearly demonstrates new aggressive intention of the Armenian leadership. The Armenian defense minister threatens Azerbaijan with so-called “new war for new territories” the president said.
The president said that Armenia deliberately targets civilian population and perpetrates provocations along the Line of Contact and Armenia-Azerbaijan border, reminding that an Azerbaijani solider and a civilian were killed in Armenia’s artillery bombardment of Azerbaijan’s Tovuz district in July.
He said that Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict must be resolved on the basis of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity according to the UN Security Council Resolutions.
Furthermore, Aliyev said that the policy of “Azerbaijanophobia” is prevailing in Armenia and hatred against Azerbaijani people is instilled in the young generation.
He reminded that Armenia’s National Security Strategy contains racist, chauvinistic and “Azerbaijanophobic” ideas.
The aggressive rhetoric and provocations of Armenia show that Armenia is preparing for a new aggression against Azerbaijan. We call on the UN and international community to urge Armenia to refrain from another military aggression, the president said.
It should be noted that earlier, on September 19, President Aliyev stated that the negotiations between the two countries are non-existent and that Armenia was preparing for a new large-scale war with Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the U.S., Russia and France hase been mediating the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia since the signing of the cease-fire agreement.