Baku, Azerbaijan, May 20
Trend:
Armenia's statements on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict "only by peaceful means" are nothing more than the camouflage of its occupation policy and utter absurdity, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend May 20.
He was commenting on murder of a soldier of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on the Nakhchivan section of the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border.
Hajiyev noted that Armenian foreign minister, who instead of holding meetings with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border, encourages tension and provocation.
Hikmet Hajiyev also expressed his condolences to the family of the killed serviceman.
He said that Armenia is fully responsible for the current situation.
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.