Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan's government has condemned the Armenian foreign minister's recent statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict made on a visit to Mexico, with Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman saying that while making such statements Edward Nalbandyan "forgets about the country he represents".

"Nalbandyan forgets that he represents the power which is held by the blood of his country's people," Elman Abdullayev said at a briefing on Wednesday.

Nalbandyan during his tour of Latin America claimed at a meeting with Mexican MPs that the resolution condemning the Khojaly genocide committed against Azerbaijanis by Armenians during the 1990s war, adopted by the Mexican Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the previous convocation, contradicts the position of the international community, according to Mediamax news agency.

Mexico was the first country to adopt such a resolution.

Abdullayev said it appears that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan had instructed his minister to be provocative towards Azerbaijan. "However, Armenia will fail to do this," he said.

The ministry spokesman added that the Armenian authorities entirely depend on the Armenian lobby and act on the basis of nationalist slogans.

During the attack on the town of Khojaly committed by Armenian forces on February 25-26, 1992, 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 elderly, were killed and a total of 1,000 civilians disabled. Eight families were annihilated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 lost both. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 remains unknown.

Since the brutal war that broke out after Armenia leveled territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, in violation of UN resolutions on their pullout from the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the seven surrounding districts.

Peace talks, brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs the United States, Russia and France have largely accomplished no result so far.