BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr. 21
Trend:
Armenia is trying to deceive the international community instead of fulfilling the trilateral statement of 10 November 2021, said the Spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva said, Trend reports on Apr.21 referring to the ministry.
Abdullayeva made the remark commenting on the latest statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
According to her, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in his interview dated April 20 spoke about Armenia's revanchist intentions towards Azerbaijan and the possible threat to its territorial integrity.
"The head of the Azerbaijani state always clearly and specifically expresses his thoughts," she said. "If the Armenian Foreign Ministry wants to distort and present what was said in the form beneficial for Armenia, then this clearly indicates its intentions."
She reminded that in his interview the president said: "If we find a possible danger, we'll immediately remove it ... because this is national defense, a matter of national security."
"It's not a threat to the territorial integrity of Armenia, as stated by the Foreign Ministry of this country, but, on the contrary, an indicator of determination to respond to any threat that may arise from Armenia to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders," Abdullayeva stressed.
She noted that in his interview, Azerbaijan’s president also said that the country is ready for cooperation, emphasizing that despite the genocide committed by Armenia at the state level against Azerbaijanis in Khojaly in February 1992, the destruction of Azerbaijan’s historical, cultural, religious monuments by it, the countries should look to the future.
"As has been repeatedly stated at the highest level, Azerbaijan is ready to normalize relations with Armenia on the basis of the principles of international law, in particular, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and inviolability of internationally recognized borders,” said the spokesperson.
“Implementation of the trilateral statements signed on November 10, 2020, and January 11, 2021, is aimed namely on such normalization. Unfortunately, instead of fulfilling the points of these declarations, Armenia is misleading its people and trying to deceive the world community," concluded Abdullayeva.
Armenian Armed Forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of the Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-caliber weapons, mortars, and artillery on Sept. 27, 2020. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-offensive along the entire front. Following over a month of military action to liberate its territories from Armenian occupation from late Sept. to early Nov. 2020, Azerbaijan has pushed Armenia to sign the surrender document. A joint statement on the matter was made by the Azerbaijani president, Armenia's PM, and the president of Russia.
A complete ceasefire and a cessation of all hostilities in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were introduced on Nov. 10, 2020.
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, the 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.