Azerbaijan replies Armenians' provocative statements
By Sara Rajabova
Armenia is an occupant country, a terrorist state which should be withdrawn from membership of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
The first Deputy Speaker of Azerbaijani Parliament and the Head of the country's delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Ziyafet Asgarov, made the remarks on June 17.
Asgarov commented on the provocative actions of the Armenian delegation at NATO Parliamentary Assembly's 86th "Rose-Roth" seminar, titled "South Caucasus: Challenges and Opportunities" in Baku, that kicked off on June 16.
Head of the Armenian delegation to NATO PA Koryun Nahapetyan first protested against the speech of Dennis Sammut, Director of LINKS (Dialogue-Analysis-Research), Co-ordinator of the Oxford Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies Forum at Oxford University, who hailed recent economic development processes in Azerbaijan and said the country`s territorial integrity was violated. "Territorial integrity must be taken as a main principle in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Azerbaijan's territorial integrity was violated and it must be restored," said Mr. Sammut sparking protest of Mr. Nahapetyan, who, however, failed to substantiate his arguments.
Asgarov sharply replied to the members of the Armenian delegation, concerned about Azerbaijan's military budget growth and their "wrong provocative statements."
He said Armenian delegation has been engaged in provocative activities at the workshop voicing statements against Azerbaijan since June 16.
"The reforms in the army are a very important issue. The military budget, budgets of education and health will increase with GDP growth," Asgarov said.
He asked the NATO assembly to exclude Armenia from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
Asgarov further stressed that hundreds of thousands of people became refugees as a result of Armenia's occupation of Azerbaijani territories.
"Azerbaijan will press ahead with reforms in the military and armament of the army," Asgarov stressed.
Furthermore, Asgarov said a criminal case was filed in the Azerbaijani Military Prosecutor's Office against representative of the Armenian delegation, MP Tevan Poghosyan's father in connection with his crimes, noting the investigation is underway.
Asgerov called on Armenian MP to give up hypocrisy and immorality and to stop the falsifying the recent history.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
As a result of the military aggression of Armenia, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 are reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured, and 50,000 were disabled.
The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.