Artsakh has been under a blockade since Dec. 12, 2022
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan of plotting to ethnically cleanse the Armenians of Artsakh and undermining the security of the region.
During a speech at the summit of the Organization Turkic States in Ankara, Aliyev accused Yerevan of not fulfilling its obligations under the November 9, 2020 agreement, saying that the opening of the so-called “Zangezur Corridor” was being delayed deliberately. The November 9, 2020 agreement does not stipulate the creation of such a “corridor.”
“Although Armenia has recognized the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan in Prague and Sochi in 2022, it has not yet completely withdrawn its troops from the territories [i.e., Nagorno-Karabakh] of Azerbaijan. Armenian illegal units and criminal elements remain in Karabakh. Thus, Armenia grossly violates the statement signed on November 10, 2020, and must bear accountability for it,” Aliyev said, referring to Armenia as “Western Azerbaijan.”
“According to the concept of repatriation developed by the community of Western Azerbaijan, a legally binding international agreement with an appropriate mechanism of guarantee and ratification should be reached in order to return the forcibly displaced Azerbaijanis from the territory of current Armenia to their native land. Just as we, the Azerbaijani state, will ensure the individual rights and security of Armenians living in Karabakh, Armenia should also ensure the rights and security of Western Azerbaijanis based on the principle of reciprocity,” Aliyev added.
Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, speaking at the summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Turkish capital Ankara, has made a cynical proposal to Armenia.
Armenia’s foreign ministry said that “Aliyev is trying to lay a slow-acting ‘minefield’ for future military aggression by Azerbaijan.”
“By Presenting the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia under the fictitious name ‘Western Azerbaijan,’ the President of Azerbaijan is grossly violating the UN Charter, the UN GA Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States in accordance with the UN Charter, the Alma-Ata Declaration, but also his own commitments undertaken by the Prague and Sochi statements to which he is referring in this exact speech,” explained the foreign ministry.
“Azerbaijan continues to obstruct the issue of the return of refugees and internally displaced persons to Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent regions, while at the same time it announced that it is going to resettle the territories that came under its control as a result of the deportation of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh,” argued Yerevan.
“Having violated basically all the points of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020 and with the narrative about the ‘corridors,’ which he himself admits as fictitious, the President of Azerbaijan is obstructing the process of opening of regional communications,” the foreign ministry said.
“The Azerbaijani leaders’ bellicose rhetoric aims to completely disrupt the efforts to establish stability in the South Caucasus and resort to the use of large-scale force against both the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Furthermore, the insulting language used against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is accompanied by actions aimed at creating a humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, demonstrates Azerbaijan’s unconcealed policy of ethnic cleansing at the highest level,” said Armenia’s foreign ministry.
“Voicing such provocative theses in Ankara aims not only to undermine the ongoing peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also to hinder the positive dynamics in the process of normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations,” added the foreign ministry.
The statement called on Armenia’s allies and other stakeholders that are vested in the region’s stability “to assess the Azerbaijani President’s policy and take active steps to eliminate the violations of international law by Azerbaijan and exclude the manifestations of the use of force.”