Yerevan responds to Baku`s statement

ArmInfo.The Armenian Foreign Ministry answered Baku. The statement published on the Ministry's official page reads in part:  ''The statement of the Ministry of  Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan of 6 August 2019 is a stark  demonstration of failure to adhere to basic rules of civility and  decency, incapacity to sustain civilized norms of conduct between  nations, especially amongst parties engaged at the highest level in  highly complex and sensitive process of conflict resolution.

Personal attacks, contained in the statement are deplorable and attest to the  culture of intolerance and hatred towards the Armenian people,  prevalent in Azerbaijan, spearheaded and encouraged by their  authorities.

The authorities of Azerbaijan, who have been consistently rejecting  any possibility of a direct engagement with the people of  Nagorno-Karabakh and their elected authorities, who perpetrated  ethnic cleansing and other mass atrocities against the people of  Nagorno- Karabakh in the 1990s and in April 2016, who have been  consistently conducting policies of hatred, including by way of  public glorification of murderers of Armenians, bear direct and  immediate responsibility for creating existential security risks for  the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Republic of Armenia remains the only guarantor for the people of  Nagorno- Karabakh in ensuring their security, their freedom and  inalienable human rights, including the right to development and the  right to self-determination. Armenia regrets the incapacity of the  authorities of Azerbaijan to understand the context and the content  of the speech of H.E. Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of the Republic  of Armenia, of 5 August 2019, which addresses the pan-Armenian agenda  of advancing unity, solidarity, development and prosperity for  Armenia, Artsakh and Diaspora.

Furthermore, the Prime Minister of Armenia has repeatedly stated that  any viable option for the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh  conflict should be acceptable to the peoples of Artsakh, Armenia and  Azerbaijan. The authorities of Azerbaijan, however, have been  consistently failing to reciprocate willingness and capacity for a  solution acceptable to all parties. Azerbaijan continues to adhere to  its maximalist demands, accompanied with the threat or use of force,  consistently violates the ceasefire regime, defies the calls of the  OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to consolidate an atmosphere conducive to  peace and reject any solution acceptable to all parties. Such  positions are consistently reflected in statements of the leadership  of Azerbaijan.

The position of Armenia with regard to the peaceful settlement  remains unchanged, which is clearly reflected in the above-mentioned  address of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia. Armenia is  resolute in achieving a strictly peaceful resolution of the conflict,  rejecting any threat or use of force and defending the security of  the people of both the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Earlier, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry criticized Pashinyan,  noting that the Prime Minister of Armenia voiced completely "populist  statements far from reality, which demonstrated the degree of his  ignorance of regional developments and the world as a whole and  weakness as a politician." ''The aggressive statements of the Prime  Minister of Armenia are in clear contradiction with the spirit and  essence of the negotiations over the many years over the  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including the discussions that took place  during the recent meetings between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This is  also a big blow to the negotiation process, being conducted by the  co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, such statements by the political  leader of Armenia, completely alien to the subject of many years of  negotiations, do not correspond to those voiced by Armenia calls for  "an exclusively peaceful resolution of the conflict." N. Pashinyan's  speech in Stepanakert revealed his true face, "the Foreign Ministry  said, assuring that Azerbaijan would never" reconcile with the  occupation of its territories and continue its efforts to liberate  the occupied territories.  Apparently, the current leadership of  Armenia, through empty promises, is engaged in self-deception and  misleading the people of Armenia'', the Azerbaijani Foreign  Ministry's statement reads.