Azernews.Az

An Azerbaijani official has said any insinuations and one-sided interpretation of various information resources appealing to the president's Twitter account over allegedly deployed struggle against the Armenian nation are absurd and baseless.

Elnur Aslanov, the Presidential Administration's head of political analysis and information provision, was commenting on several Armenian sources' allegations.

"Azerbaijan is against the ideology of Armenia's ultranationalist circles...which justify terror attacks, occupation of the neighboring country's lands, ethnic cleansing, killing of civilians, women and children," Aslanov noted.

"The Azerbaijani society is known for its values, such as inter-faith tolerance and multiculturalism," he said. "We are proud of our diversity. Representatives of many nationalities live in Azerbaijan as one family. It is silly and groundless to accuse Azerbaijan of impatience in any sense - be it ethnic, religious or another one."

Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict for two decades. Since a brutal war in the early 1990s that displaced about a million Azerbaijanis from their homes, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts, despite four UN resolutions on their unconditional pullout. A ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks, brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs the United States, Russia and France, have been largely fruitless so far.

Aslanov said around 30,000 citizens of Armenian nationality live in Azerbaijan. Their fundamental rights and freedoms are guaranteed by the state as those of other Azerbaijani citizens in accordance with the Constitution of the Azerbaijan Republic, he said.

Aslanov said the Azerbaijani president has made clear that the country's main enemy is the Armenian lobby.

"They are pro-Armenian establishment, living in wealthy countries, which deprives generations of the Armenian society of a full future for the sake of its own materialistic interests, as well as those members of the Armenian diaspora who sacrifice the future of Armenia and Armenian people for the sake of their whims, by exerting pressure to maintain the status quo of the occupation of Azerbaijani lands. All these factors not only dramatically complicate any positive perspective of developing the region and its full integration, but nullify Armenia's internal resources. Thus, the Armenian lobby is also the enemy of the rational thinking part of the Armenian population."

The Presidential Administration official stressed that the Azerbaijani side's actions show that the country indeed strives for a peaceful settlement of the long-standing conflict.

"The country really has the will and the desire to solve the problem," he said. "But unfortunately, no such signals have been received from the other side. The country is sure that a rapid withdrawal of Armenian troops from the Azerbaijani occupied territories will create great opportunities for the region.

"Today the Armenian political regime, in fact, has brought the country into isolation and crisis over persistent territorial claims and aggression against Azerbaijan. The country is ready to continue negotiations to determine the status of Nagorno-Karabakh within the Azerbaijan Republic. The population expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh must have the opportunity to return home and live in peace, friendship and cooperation."