Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 21 / Trend /
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's statement is pure populism, spokesman for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Elman Abdullayev told Trend today.
He was commenting on Sargsyan's interview on the Russian channel 24.
"It is a fact that Armenian armed forces are on Azerbaijani territory and that the international community recognizes them as aggressors," Abdullayev said.
Abdullayev said that the presidents of the Minsk Group co-chairs all confirmed that the status-quo is unacceptable.
"Today, no one must doubt that Azerbaijan is able to restore its territorial integrity by using appropriate methods," he said "We believe that peace talks must continue. The diplomatic potential of negotiations has yet to have been exhausted."
Abdullayev called the presence of Armenian armed forces on Azerbaijani territory the main obstacle to successful negotiations.
"Of course, Sargsyan's statement is pure populism aimed at a domestic audience," he said. "President Sargsyan is trying to justify his failures in domestic and foreign policy by making these statements."
Sargsyan's hostile statements once again demonstrate Yerevan's deconstructive and militaristic approach, which harms negotiations, Abdullayev said.
He added that it is regrettable that the world community is silently observing the process without expressing its position of principle while international law is grossly being violated by Yerevan.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions regarding the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.