Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan’s winning a seat on the U.N. Security Council at Monday’s elections is an "unforgivable setback" of Armenian diplomacy’ and failure of Armenia’s foreign ministry, an Armenian analyst was quoted as saying.

Hmayak Hovhannisyan, president of the Union of Political Scientists, said the ministry should have done its best to prevent Azerbaijan’s non-permanent membership in the UN SC, yerkir.am website reported.

"We will witness the bitter consequences of this mistake over the next two years, which are crucial," he said.

The analyst said Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan should be personally held responsible for Yerevan’s failure, calling on him to resign.

Azerbaijan gained a non-permanent UN SC seat in 2012-2013 after Slovenia withdrew from the race following 16 inconclusive rounds of voting. The country received 155 votes in the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly.

The Security Council is the powerhouse of the United Nations, with the ability to impose sanctions and dispatch peacekeeping forces. There are five veto-holding permanent members of the council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- and 10 temporary elected members without vetoes.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in bitter conflict for two decades.