Commentary of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan
On August 27, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, speaking to the senior staff of the Ministry, as well as the heads of the diplomatic and consular missions of this country allowed himself rhetoric attacks towards Azerbaijan, far from reality and inappropriate to the essence of the negotiations.
In this regard, it should be reemphasized that Nagorno-Karabakh was, is and will be an inalienable integral part of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The entire world community recognizes this fact and unequivocally condemns the occupation of the territories of Azerbaijan by Armenia. There is no definition as “the people of Nagorno-Karabakh”, there are the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of this region of Azerbaijan. The internationally accepted model for the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is based on the norms and principles of international law, consistent with decisions of the UN, OSCE and other international organizations, primarily the four well-known resolutions of the UN Security Council. And the concrete steps within the framework of peaceful settlement were proposed by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and repeatedly voiced by them, including in their recent statement of March 9 of this year.
Azerbaijan as a multi-ethnic state with an internationally recognized multicultural society cannot be compared with mono-ethnic Armenia, which expelled the entire Azerbaijani population from its ancestral lands, on which this country is now located, and, moreover, committed cruel ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and the severest of them became the Khojaly tragedy.
The attempts of the Armenian Foreign Minister to somehow justify the aggressive intentions of his country, referring to the people's right to self-determination, which implies the free expression of the citizens’ will, are in no way consistent with international law or common sense. It is impossible to advocate for the realization of the rights of part of the population of any territory, completely violating the rights of another part.
The rights of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, now under the occupation of the armed forces of Armenia, were vastly violated due to the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan. And only after the restoration of the fundamental rights of the Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan by ensuring their safe return to their homes and enabling them to live in dignity there, it will be possible to specifically discuss the forms of realization of the rights of the residents of the region to self-government.
The latest statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia aimed at domestic consumption is fraught with a very dangerous tendency to escalate the conflict, rather than resolving it peacefully, as Z.Mnatsakanyan so eagerly asks.
Armenia should decide: do they want peace or escalation?! One gets the impression that the current Armenian leadership is consciously inclined to escalate the situation, rather than to settle it peacefully. Unfortunately, we have to admit that official Yerevan today proceeds from the annexationist and not from the reality related position. However, in any case, it is obvious that Azerbaijan will never reconcile with the existing status quo based on occupation. Our patience is not unlimited.
