BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 20. Armenia must learn a lesson from its historical mistakes and stop trying to hinder the successful completion of the peace process in the post-conflict period [following the 2020 second Karabakh war], Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry told Trend.
The ministry made the remark commenting on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's claims during his speech in Armenian parliament on June 20.
"As for the allegations that Azerbaijan allegedly since 2011 "escalated the situation by increasing armaments and committing provocations", it should be noted that since the occupation of the territories, Azerbaijan made efforts to liberate its lands through negotiations based on the decisions and resolutions of the UN Security Council and a number of other international organizations," the ministry said.
"Despite all this, everyone knows that the acts of aggression and provocations committed by Armenia over the years, including the provocative rhetoric personally demonstrated by Prime Minister Pashinyan in 2018-2019, did not contribute to peace and led to war in 2020," the ministry added.
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 Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
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 prime minister, and the president of Russia.