Details added (first version posted on 12:32)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 7
Trend:
The president of the Swiss National Council undermines the negotiations on settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev.
He was responding to Trend’s question on statements made by President of the Swiss National Council Dominique De Buman in Yerevan.
Abusing his official status as President of the National Council of Switzerland, De Buman during his visit to Yerevan, contradicting the policy of neutrality of Switzerland, made prejudiced statements, and he harms the negotiations for the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Hajiyev said.
“The remarks of President of the National Council of Switzerland Dominique De Buman in Yerevan can be regarded as support for segregation and racism in its translation into an internationally accepted language,” noted the spokesman.
He reminded that in 2012, De Buman, violating the laws, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, illegally visited the Azerbaijani territories occupied by the Armenian armed forces.
“With the visit and the recent statements, he demonstrates justification to Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan, the occupation of the territory of Azerbaijan by the Armenian armed forces and the bloody ethnic cleansing committed in the occupied territories against more than one million Azerbaijanis,” added Hajiyev.
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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.