Azerbaijan seeking to legitimate its large-scale aggression against  Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia - Nikol Pashinyan

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan is seeking to legitimate its large-scale aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh and the Republic of Armenia, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan  stated at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.  

Recalling the statement by the RA Security Council of March 28, 2022,  which emphasizes Azerbaijan's intention to launch new attacks against  Nagorno-Karabakh, he said:

"That statement gave rise to additional questions, and I would like  to make a number of remarks to clarify the situation in the region  both to the Armenian public and to the international community. 

"Before, during and after the 44-day war Azerbaijan implemented a  policy of justifying its military attack on Armenia and  Nagorno-Karabakh. 

"And Azerbaijan is obviously seeking to legitimate its large-scale  attack against Nagorno-Karabakh, and my goal today is to demonstrate  the illegitimacy of this policy," Mr Pashinyan said.  

"The Azerbaijani sources are actively disseminating fake news in the  West that Armenia has allegedly provided its SU-30 SM aircraft to  Ukraine. These are outrageous lies and our aircraft have not a single  time left Armenia since they arrived," Armenia's premier said. 

As to the claims that Armenia serves as a transit country for  mercenaries going to Ukraine, Mr Pashinyan said: "Any person with the  least information at his disposal knows that Armenia, which suffered  from mercenaries involved in the war against it two years ago, can  never help others to hire mercenaries. That is absurd." 

"And the topic Azerbaijan is using most to escalate regional tensions  is that of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace agreement. Azerbaijan  insists that Armenia leave the question unanswered. However, this  information is false, as I have repeatedly stated publicly that  Armenia is ready to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan," Mr  Pashinyan said.  

Refuting Azerbaijan's claims that Armenia did not respond to its  5-point proposal, he said: 

"At the government's last meeting live I discussed the issue in  detail and stated that on March 10 a 5-point proposal was sent and  four days later, with two of them days off, we responded in written  form. We sent our response the same way we received the proposals. We  also stated publicly that we did not find anything unacceptable to us  in Azerbaijan's proposals. The foreign minister stated that on March  21, 2022," Mr Pashinyan said. 

The proposals were handed over to Armenia by one of the OSCE MG  co-chairing countries. 

"This answer means that the principle of mutual recognition of  territorial integrity and inviolability of borders is acceptable to  Armenia. So the question is why Azerbaijan regards it as absence of  response."  

"The reason is that in its public and diplomatic statements Armenia  emphasized the Nagorno-Karabakh problem and the Nagorno-Karabakh  Armenians' rights in the context of rapprochement between Armenia and  Azerbaijan. 

"However, Azerbaijan states that the Nagorno-Karabakh problem has  been solved. But what about the Armenians' rights there? 

"This questions remains unanswered. And that is why the international  community is constantly emphasizing the need for a comprehensive  settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which we can see at  different international forums. Being aware that the Nagorno-Karabakh  problem exists and will remain high on the international agenda,  Azerbaijan is seeking to close he issue instead of settling it. And  this process was started in the village of Parukh, Askeran region,  which is showing a clear trend toward continuation. In fact,  Azerbaijan is seeking to deport all the Armenians from  Nagorno-Karabakh, thus considering the issue closed," Mr Pashinyan  said. 

Instead of being concerned about the rights and security guarantees  for the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, official Baku is doing the  opposite by claiming no Nagorno-Karabakh exists. 

"This is the reason for the official Azerbaijani circles' aggressive  reaction to the international community's use of the name  Nagorno-Karabakh. However, the use of this name is absolutely legal  and logical, including because the trilateral statement of November 9  clearly uses the terms Nagorno-Karabakh and Nagorno-Karabakh  conflict. And the Azerbaijani president put his signature to the  document as well," Mr Pashinyan said.