Armenian TV ridicules Azeri report of protest rallies in Karabakh

Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
24 May 04

[Presenter] The Azerbaijani press has set a new record of hypocrisy
due to its irresponsibility and by misleading its compatriots and the
international community. According to the Azerbaijani Ekho newspaper,
the Artsakh [Karabakh] Armenians have raised the Azerbaijani flag
at a rally as a sign of their desire to be part of Azerbaijan. This
news was received with laugh in Artsakh and Armenia, and they wished
the Azerbaijanis saw this in their dreams.

[Correspondent over video of Azeri newspapers, archive footage of
Karabakh] According to the Azerbaijani press, rallies have been
staged in Stepanakert [Xankandi] since mid-April during which the
Karabakh Armenians raised the Azerbaijani flag and expressed their
desire to return to Azerbaijan. One cannot read without laughing
these lines in the Azerbaijani newspaper which say that the Armenians
are attracted to Azerbaijan’s prosperity and the Artsakh Armenians
are seriously concerned about a possible resumption of hostilities,
which, according to the Baku source, must be completed by a blitzkrieg.

The Karabakh Foreign Ministry has said that there is no need to
comment on this nonsense. A Regnum correspondent in Stepanakert noted
that there is political stability in Stepanakert and that the second
Armenian capital is living its usual peaceful life.

The Azerbaijani newspaper’s report is pure fuss which intends to
refresh the Karabakh subject by means of internal forces and the
international community. Soon after this report, the Azerbaijanis
published another article which noted that Azerbaijan should beat
Armenia at any cost in the information war. Apparently, Baku is using
unclear and unfair struggle methods even in the information war. There
is no Azerbaijani flag in Stepanakert and there will never be. But
they are joking in Artsakh that finally one day the Armenian flag
will be waving in the Azerbaijani capital.