Azerbaijan raps Armenia for top prosecutor’s illegal Karabakh trip amid peace efforts
Azerbaijan has protested vigorously at a trip of the Armenian prosecutor-general to the Karabakh separatists in Xankandi under temporary control of the Russian peace-keeping contingent, Azernews reports.
Yerevan's provocative step is undermining peace efforts in the region, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"This irresponsible and provocative step by Armenia shows once again that this country is not sincere in the process of normalization," the statement reads, adding that the illegal trip damaged the process of normalization of relations and efforts underway to establish peace and security in the region following the autumn 2020 second Karabakh war.
It further added that the trip discredited the efforts of international mediators aiming to help the two countries to make peace and that it was directed against Azerbaijan's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and internationally-recognized borders, and violated international law.
In May, Azerbaijan and Armenia announced the creation of border delimitation commissions following the Brussels meeting under the auspices of EU Council President Charles Michel. The first meeting of the commissions took place on May 24.
On May 23, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed decrees on the creation of border delimitation and security commissions.
The trilateral ceasefire deal signed by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders on November 10, 2020, ended the three-decade-long conflict over Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region, which along with the seven adjacent districts came under the occupation of Armenian armed forces in the war in the early 1990s.
The deal also stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the peace deal, Azerbaijan liberated 300 villages, settlements, city centers, and historic Shusha city that had been under Armenian occupation for about 30 years.
On January 11, 2021, the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders signed the second statement since the end of the 44-day war. The newly-signed statement was set to implement clause 9 of the November 2020 statement related to the unblocking of all economic and transport communications in the region.
On November 26, 2021, the three leaders signed a statement and agreed on a number of issues, including the demarcation and delimitation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border by late 2021, some points related to humanitarian issues and the issue of unblocking of transport corridors which applies to the railway and to automobile communications.
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