Azernews.Az

ANKARA – The Turkish government has strongly condemned the Armenian leader’s statement leveling territorial claims to Turkey, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling it "unbecoming a president".

President Serzh Sargsyan said while addressing school students on Monday that Armenia’s reclaiming its western territories, including the Agri mountainous area in Turkey, was allegedly a task facing future generations of Armenians. Sargsyan also claimed that his generation "successfully fulfilled its duty" by "freeing Artsakh [Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno Karabakh region] from the enemy".

Prime Minister Erdogan said regarding Sargsyan’s remarks that "nurturing future generations based on hatred" is unbecoming a statesman.

"Sargsyan made a huge mistake and he should rectify it, should apologize," Erdogan told a news conference after meeting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Wednesday.

President Aliyev in turn said Sargsyan’s statement once again reflected upon the "aggressive essence" of the Armenian leadership. He said Yerevan is "deeply mistaken" in its claims that it has resolved the Nagorno Karabakh conflict on its own.

"Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over Nagorno Karabakh will be definitely restored -- either peacefully or militarily.

"As for [Armenia’s] territorial claims to Turkey, it appears that Sargsyan is not in his right mind. They [the Armenians] have become so detached from reality or indulge in illusions so much that they have aggressive aspirations toward Turkey, and this resembles the barking of a pug dog," Aliyev said.

The Turkish foreign ministry also delivered a strongly worded response to the Armenian leader’s statement.

"Preparing his society, in particular the youth, for a peaceful, serene and prosperous future should be the primary duty of statesmen," says a statement posted on the ministry’s website. "Giving advice to the youth and the next generations with a quite opposite approach and in a way that will provoke an ideology of hostility and hatred among societies is an extremely irresponsible behavior."

Ankara said that at a time when efforts to establish peace have been stepped up in the region, Sargsyan’s statement indicates that he "does not intend to work for peace".

"We believe that everyone who has exerted effort to ensure peace and stability in the region will deduce the right conclusions from Mr. Sargsyan’s unfortunate statements that we find regrettable," the statement says.

Turkey's chief European Union negotiator Egemen Bagis accused Sargsyan of "crossing the line".

"We are witnessing that there are still old-fashioned and dirty politicians and even leaders not only in Europe but also beyond who do not appreciate Turkey’s lending a hand of peace," Bagis said. "Sargsyan, who tried to instill hate-filled opinons to Armenian youths, is doing nothing but leading them into a path of darkness. What he is doing is...crossing the line."

Bagis said Turkey’s Armenians are, in fact, concerned over Sargsyan’s remarks.

"I believe they will put forth a decisive stance against these instigating remarks. And if this stance is intransigent, Sargsyan should know that his words won’t remain unanswered.

"Turkey’s friednship is strong, and all of our friends have benefitted from it, while those pursuing a hostile policy toward Turkey have always done so to their own detriment."

Turkey, Azerbaijan’s ally, and Armenia maintain no diplomatic relations and the border between the two countries has been shut since 1993 due to Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territory and claims on World War I-era "genocide" in Ottoman Turkey. Ankara and Yerevan signed reconciliation agreements in October 2009, but their parliamentary approval is stalled.

Turkish NGOs also condemned the Armenian president’s statement at a joint news conference.

"In his latest statement, Sargsyan once again expressed hatred toward Turks. We are telling him: if he can, he can come and take away the Agri mountain," said Goksel Gulbey, head of Turkish Organization for Fighting against Baseless Armenian Allegations (ASIMDER).

Gulbey said ASIMDER has filed a lawsuit against the Armenian president to the European Court of Human Rights over the massacres of Azerbaijanis he orchestrated during the war over Nagorno Karabakh in the early 1990s.

"The suit is being reviewed in court. The statement made today by a child killer responsible for bloodshed in Karabakh in the past is a matter of war. Sargsyan should apologize to the Turkish people for his statement."

The Karabakh war claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory since then. A ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but OSCE-brokered peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.