Azernews.Az

YEREVAN – Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian has voiced concern over Azerbaijan’s increasing military power and alleged bellicose rhetoric on liberating its occupied territories.

"The Azerbaijani government makes belligerent statements almost every day. They have doubled their military spending in a year’s time," he was quoted by Radio Liberty as saying.

Nalbandian claimed in an interview with Austrian national daily newspaper Der Standard that Baku is rejecting international proposals on non-use of force, on reinforcing the ceasefire accord that is in place between Azerbaijan and Armenia and on withdrawing snipers from the line of contact between the two countries’ troops.

"I don’t think anyone could say that this stance of the Azerbaijani government poses no threat," he said.

Nalbandian said that the alleged threats to launch military action amount to a violation of international law. "Failure to respond to this line of conduct could have bitter ramifications," he added.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict for two decades. Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory since a war in the early 1990s. The ceasefire accord has been in place since 1994, but years of OSCE-brokered peace talks have been largely fruitless, and sporadic clashes on the frontline continue. Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly warned that the country’s occupied territories will be freed at any cost.

Asked to comment on the fact that Austria has opened its embassy in the region in Baku, not in Yerevan or Tbilisi, the capitals of the two neighboring South Caucasus republics, the minister said: "We opened our embassy in Vienna many years ago. It was one of the first diplomatic missions we opened since independence. I believe that it is time for Austria to take a reciprocal step by establishing a diplomatic representation in Yerevan."

On the possibility of Armenia’s backing Austrian former foreign minister Ursula Plassnik's bid for the OSCE secretary general’s post, Nalbandian said Yerevan has not yet made a decision on which candidate it would support.