Details added, first version published on 12:54
BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 15
Trend:
The remarks made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, during his visit to Egypt is a clear example of two-facades, the Azerbaijani MFA said, Trend reports.
The Azerbaijani MFA reminded that Armenia subjected hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis to bloody ethnic cleansing, expelled them from their homes, brutally exterminated 613 civilians in one night in Khojaly only for the fact that they are Azerbaijanis and Muslims, and also destroyed the Muslim heritage, mosques in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
"Azerbaijan has suffered from Armenia's ideology of terrorism through the years since the late 1980s and early 1990s. Over 2,000 civilians were killed following more than 30 terrorist attacks, accompanied by the blowing up of passenger buses and trains in Azerbaijan and the Baku metro," said the foreign ministry.
Azerbaijan's MFA also said that Armenia used terrorist methods in the annexation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts of Azerbaijan, and is attracting mercenaries from foreign countries, specifically from the Middle East.
“The true face of Armenia is manifested in the example of such ardent terrorists as Monte Melkonyan, who was directly involved in the occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and was one of the leaders of the ASALA terrorist organization. In the 1970s-1980s, ASALA and other Armenian terrorist organizations committed more than 235 terrorist attacks in 22 countries, 24 diplomats of Turkey became victims of the Armenian terror,” the MFA said.
“Amid all this, the statements of the Armenian Foreign Minister about friendship and close cooperation with Muslim countries, regional and global security are nothing more than nonsense. We resolutely reject the false and delusional allegations and statements of the occupying Armenia and demand this country to comply with the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council in 1993, as well as numerous resolutions of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) regarding the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan,” said the Azerbaijani ministry.
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, 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 the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.