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Qabil Ashirov

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The interview of Nikol Pashinyan with Euronews can be assessed as opprobrium and brazenness. Strictly speaking, his interview unveils the real intention of the Armenian political leaders. It seems that either he is unaware of history over the last 30 years, or being over complacent, he tries to oversmart somebody. In other words, touching on many issues, Nikol Pashinyan tried to manipulate realities happening on the ground by misinterpreting them.

He started his interview with the 10 November statement and baselessly accused Azerbaijan of violating the 7th paragraph of the statement.

"Paragraph 7 of the statement provides that refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) shall return to the territory of 'Nagorno Karabakh' and the adjacent districts under the auspices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Unfortunately, to date Azerbaijan has not secured this right," said Nikol.

Reading these words, I have no other option but to think that the Armenian PM wraps everyone to his little finger. I would like to recall the PM that it is Armenia not Azerbaijan expelled 250,000 people from Armenia, and 750,000 people from Garabagh 30 years ago. Even, after liberation Armenia is reluctant to hand over the map of landmines, because they do not want the liberated territories are inhabited.

Hayk illegally appropriated the abandoned houses in Armenia and as for those houses in Garabagh, they were looted and devastated. The construction materials obtained from the razed houses, i.e. doors, windows, glass, and so on either were transported to Armenia for reusing or sold in Iran. The marble dismantled from Muslim cemeteries decorated the villas of Armenian millionaires. A total of 65 out of 67 mosques in Garabagh were demolished, and remaining two mosques were renamed as Persian mosques. The Blue Mosque in Irevan (Yerevan) shared the fate, i.e. renamed as Persian Mosque. It is worth noting that in Islam mosques are not associated with the name of any ethnic identity, more precisely, there are no Turkish mosques, Persian Mosques, and so on. This practice exists among Christians. Knowing this, Armenians tried to fool whole the world.

Other historical heritages of locals, caravanserais, palaces, tombs, and even the Russian Orthodox Church subjected to vandalism as well. They either were leveled to ground, or used as stable for animals. The heritage of the Caucasus Albanian Churches - Amaras Monastery in Khojavand and Khudavang Monastery in Kalbajar were illegally appropriated, and Udis, the heirs of Christian Caucasus Albans, were prohibited to visit these monasteries. Even today, Udis can not visit the Amaras Monastery and do worship. The head of the country that committed such kind of barbarism dares to accuse its neighbors.

In addition, Pashinyan noted in the interview that Azerbaijan is actually carrying out rapid construction and reconstruction in the lands freed from occupation, but according to the PM, allegedly in the areas where forcibly expelled Armenians. Indeed, it is very difficult to understand anything from this statement of the Armenian Prime Minister. Because neither the purpose nor the position is clear in such a biased statement. A minister who repeatedly stated that he recognizes Azerbaijan's territory of 86.6 thousand square kilometers lowers both his personal reputation and the influence of the country he represents by using such an expression in front of the international media.

So, any inch within Azerbaijan is Azerbaijan's territory and Azerbaijan has the right to construct what it wants. Armenia just hypothetically appropriated the land they stepped on for 30 years, and today it is abnormally jealous of the construction works carried out by Azerbaijan in its territory.

Maybe Pashinyan also thinks that the metallurgical plant that Armenians want to build in Arazdayan, which has historically been the territory of Azerbaijan, is within their full legal authority. However, Armenia forgets one important thing, that construction is not just putting a brick on a brick, but the main question is for whom it is useful. As for the construction of the plant, then the prime minister should first figure out the compensation for the damage to the environment.

On the other hand, Pashinyan's jealousy of the successfully ongoing construction works in the territories of Azerbaijan raises doubts about the sincerity of his recognition of the territories of Azerbaijan.

Honestly saying, reading his words, I have no other option but to think that he hardly admitted that he recognizes Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. He seems more to be playing with time only and tries to get out of the deadlock.

As for POWs, Pashinyan said: "Contrary to paragraph 8 of the trilateral statement, the prisoners of war, captives, hostages, other detained persons have not been returned. Until recently, there were 33 prisoners, and recently two persons were abducted."

Again Nikol distorts the reality. The 8th Paragraph of the Statement speaks about POWs who were caught until the time of signing the statement. Azerbaijan freed all POWs who were arrested until November 10, 2023. The people who Pashinyan labeled as POWs actually are the terrorists who illegally swept into Azerbaijani territories for committing sabotages, and were arrested. These people brought before the court in Baku and were punished in accordance with their crime deeds. Some of them have been released because their prison terms have expired, while others are awaiting the end of their prison terms. As for the so-called "abductees," very likely Pashinyan speaks about Vagif Khachaturyan and Rashid Beglaryan. Azerbaijan has internationally wanted Vagif Khachatryan since the 1990s. He is a person who participated in the Khojaly massacre, he beheaded Azerbaijani POWs. Former Azerbaijani POW Mayil Mammadov gave detailed information about him and the footage was released in 2001. Everybody can watch the footage on YouTube. However, Rashid Beglaryan tried to cross the conventional border between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It should be emphasized that previously two Azerbaijani servicemen inadvertently crossed the border and they were beaten and imprisoned like terrorists. Even, Armenia claims that these barehanded Azerbaijani servicemen ostensibly killed armed Armenian security.

So, in the end, we want to conclude that Armenia could not get anything with such kind of hypocritic policy, and surely they will not get anything in the future. Due to such policy, Armenia turned into the poorest country in the region, and over 30 percent of the population has left the country so far. If Armenia does not give up this brazen policy, the country will be deserted in 60 years. For the favor of not only Azerbaijanis but also for Hayk, Armenia should change the policy based on fairy tales.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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