Details added (first version posted on 10:20)
Baku, Azerbaijan, July 21
By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:
By calling for use of differential approach in Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, Armenian president indeed admits the reality, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hikmet Hajiyev told reporters July 21.
Hajiyev's comments came in response to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's remarks he made during his joint press conference with President of the European Council Donald Tusk.
Hajiyev said that undoubtedly, differences should be made between Armenia which is an occupant and aggressor and Azerbaijan, the state which has underwent occupation.
In accordance with the UN Charter, legal assessment should be given to Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan without using double standards and there should be put an end to the syndrome of Armenia's impunity, according to the spokesperson.
The decision on "Chiragov and Others v. Armenia" adopted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is a basic document that determines Armenia's legal responsibility as an occupant state within the context of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, said Hajiyev.
He said that Azerbaijan, which successfully held the First European Games, made a significant contribution to popularization of the Olympic ideals and the "Olympic Truce" in the whole Europe and South Caucasus.
Armenia, which continued to violate the ceasefire on the contract line on the eve and during the First European Games, once again proved that it is absolutely far from the Olympic ideals and civilization values, according to the spokesperson.
"This military junta and its modern sequel that came to power in Armenia through the political terror and coup in 1999, opened fire at the peaceful demonstrators following the rigged presidential election in 2008, thereby showing the existence of a serious threat for Armenian citizens themselves," Hajiyev said.
By staging provocations on the contact line, the criminal regime of the military dictatorship in Armenia which has led the country into a political, economic and humanitarian disaster, in fact tries to divert the attention from the domestic discontent, said the spokesperson.
Hajiyev added that continuing occupation and aggression by Armenia against Azerbaijan is the main threat to peace and stability in the region and Armenia is responsible for that.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Edited by SI
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