PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia has urged Azerbaijan against disrupting discussions between the two countries with "warmongering, expansionist rhetoric".
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Friday, May 27 made more territorial claims against Armenia, claiming that "the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic handed over our ancient city – Yerevan – to Armenia in 1920."
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday Aliyev's statements demonstrate the non constructive approach, the arbitrary, false interpretation of the agreements, and the continuation of aggressive and warmongering policy by the Azerbaijani side.
"The aspirations towards the sovereign territory of the neighboring country and standing from the position of use of force to achieve these goals are nothing but a contempt for the norms of international law, which seriously question the sincerity of Azerbaijan's intentions to achieve peace in the region," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia considers it necessary to reiterate its principled position, namely that the negotiations on normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan should be held on the basis of proposals of both sides, which should address the whole agenda of the issues, including the final settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"With its speculations, the Azerbaijani side attempts to present the Nagorno-Karabakh issue as a territorial dispute while it is about the realization of the rights of the Armenians of Artsakh and the exclusion of the threat of ethnic cleansing."
The statement reminded that the international mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship received in 1995 to support the comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict does, in fact, exist.
"We call on the leadership of Azerbaijan not to disrupt the discussions conducted in the existing formats with warmongering, expansionist rhetoric," the statement reads.
"At the same time, we draw the attention of the international community to the statements made by official Baku, and expect the unequivocal attitude of our international partners, which will make it possible to achieve stability and peace in the South Caucasus."