BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 4. The fact that thousands of servicemen of Armenia and separatist troops who agreed to lay down their arms were released by Azerbaijan as a humanistic step and went to Armenia without any obstacles is well known to the Armenian Foreign Ministry and the false campaign carried out by Armenia in this regard has no base facts, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said, Trend reports.
The statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry came in response to the statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry in connection with the arrest of Armenian separatists by Azerbaijan.
"Instead of encouraging the return of Armenian residents who voluntarily moved to Armenia from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, statements are being made aimed at creating panic among them and promoting hatred of Azerbaijan, which is part of Armenia's destructive activities that hinder peace efforts. The fact that Armenia, despite its failures in the International Court, continues to file lawsuits in court without any reason, demonstrates that this country is not interested in the normalization process with Azerbaijan," the ministry said.
In order to ensure the provisions of the Trilateral Statement [signed by Azerbaijani, Armenian, and Russian leaders following the 2020 second Karabakh war], suppression of large-scale provocations in Azerbaijan's Karabakh economic region, disarmament, and withdrawal of Armenian armed forces formations from the territories of Azerbaijan, localized anti-terrorist activities were carried out in the region.
Taking into account the appeal of the representatives of the Armenian population of Karabakh through the Russian peacekeeping contingent [temporarily stationed in Azerbaijan under the trilateral statement], an agreement was reached on September 20, 2023, at 13:00 (GMT+4) to cease anti-terrorist activities of a local nature under the following conditions: the formations of the armed forces of Armenia, Armenian illegal armed formations located in Azerbaijan's Karabakh region, lay down their weapons, leave their combat positions and military posts, and completely disarm; the formations of the armed forces of Armenia leave the territory of Azerbaijan; Armenian illegal armed groups are dissolved.