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.
READ ALL COMMENTS