Azernews.Az

Friday March 29 2024

Baku: Armenia still has territorial claims against Azerbaijan

29 March 2022 12:13 (UTC+04:00)
Baku: Armenia still has territorial claims against Azerbaijan

By Vugar Khalilov

Baku has said that Armenia still has territorial claims against Azerbaijan and it violates the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020, as remnants of illegal Armenian armed detachments continue to remain in Karabakh.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry made the remarks on March 28, rejecting Yerevan's latest statement about the situation in Karabakh as "completely untrue and slanderous".

"It is Armenia that continues its open territorial claims against Azerbaijan in the post-conflict phase and raises this issue, including at the level of the Foreign Ministry, in every statement made in connection with the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. It is Armenia that, contrary to paragraph 4 of the trilateral statement, still does not withdraw the remnants of the Armenian armed forces from the region. Armenia continues to send servicemen to the region via the Lachin corridor, in violation of Article 6 of the statement. This fact has been confirmed by the international media," the ministry said.

It described the remarks made by Armenia against Azerbaijan's sovereign territories as an effort to meddle in Azerbaijan's domestic affairs and a breach of international law.

“Armenia, which forcibly kept part of the territories of Azerbaijan under military occupation for nearly 30 years, ethnically cleansing more than a million Azerbaijanis and depriving them of the right to live in their homes, has apparently become accustomed to violating international law,” the statement underlined.

The ministry stressed that accusing Azerbaijan of failing to comply with the trilateral statement of November 9/10, 2020, indeed Armenia violates the provisions of the joint statement and thereby inhibits the progress of normalization of relations between the two nations, despite the prospects for regional cooperation in the post-conflict period.

The ministry also dismissed Armenia's "ethnic cleansing" allegations.

“We would like to emphasize that the demand of the Azerbaijani side [to leave Azerbaijan's internationally-recognized territories] is not for its citizens of Armenian origin living in the Karabakh region of the country, but for the removal of the remnants of illegal Armenian military units from the region, as envisaged by the trilateral statement. The Armenian Foreign Ministry's deliberate distortion of this issue under the guise of 'ethnic cleansing' exposes Armenia's true intentions,” the statement added.

The ministry underlined that Armenia as the country that applied gas blockade against Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan region and committed ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis has no legal and moral right to appeal to the international community blaming Azerbaijan for such crimes.

“On what grounds does Armenia, the country which for almost 30 years kept the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan in a gas blockade, carried out ecocide and culturecide in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and prevented the arrival of international missions to these territories, now call on the international community?!,” the ministry stressed.

“Armenia, which is making a false appeal to the international community based on fabricated accusations, must understand that ensuring peace and stability in the region depends only on the unconditional implementation of all the provisions of the trilateral statement. All other steps taken by Armenia, contrary to the joint statement, will only hinder the peace-building process,” the ministry emphasized.

It added that the relevant statements of Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry provided thorough information on issues relating to Russian peacekeepers temporarily stationed on the territory of Azerbaijan.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

Loading...
Latest See more