BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 13. In his speech at the government meeting on April 13, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan blamed Azerbaijan for the latest provocation in the direction of Lachin and accused Baku of "violating the obligations assumed during the Prague and Sochi meetings", said Spokesperson of Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Aykhan Hajizade, Trend reports.
He said that these statements are completely groundless and unacceptable.
"Referring to the statement of the EU made the day before, the PM's repetition of the idea of taking the 1991 border as a basis for delineation contains a number of biased points. Thus, we would like to remind the Armenian PM that, as a result of the occupation policy initiated by Armenia against Azerbaijan, in 1990 the villages of Kerki and Baganis were occupied by Armenia," he said.
The spokesperson added that at the same time, it is known that Armenia, contrary to the trilateral statement, is still not withdrawing its armed forces from the Azerbaijani territories, keeping 8 Azerbaijani villages under occupation. In this particular case, Aykhan Hajizada says, the PM must first clarify the question of what is meant by the 1991 borders.
"The fact that Armenia continues to lay claims to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan and does not withdraw its forces from these territories is a vivid example of a serious violation of the Prague and Sochi agreements and Armenia's lack of interest in the peace process," he added.
Aykhan Hajizada went on to say that instead of a positive response to Azerbaijan's offer of establishing a border checkpoint at the beginning of the Lachin-Khankendi road in order to put an end to the provocations and illegal activities of Armenia in Azerbaijan, the Armenian side does not cease to distort the decision of the International Court of Justice on the Lachin-Khankendi road.
He noted that the claim that the Azerbaijani government is the organizer of the peaceful protests on the Lachin-Khankendi road was rejected by the Court. Moreover, he said that claims that "the road is closed" and "the territory is under blockade" have no ground.
"We demand from the Armenian side, instead of making groundless statements, to return to negotiations on a peace treaty, which they have refused since December last year, to comply with the obligations arising from the trilateral statement, including the opening of communications, the complete withdrawal of forces from Azerbaijani territories, and to refrain from steps against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan," Hajizada concluded.