AZERBAIJAN ACCUSES ARMENIA OF PROPAGANDA TO MISLEAD BOTH DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC
Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 19 2007
Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend I.Alizade / Azerbaijan accuses the
Government of Armenia of pursuing propaganda to misrepresent the peace
talks on Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict attempting to
mislead both domestic and international public on the substance of
the talks.
"After the OSCE Madrid Ministerial, the Armenian Government officials
started aggressively pursuing propaganda to misrepresent the peace
talks on Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict attempting to
mislead both domestic and international public on the substance of the
talks. We believe that the propaganda of the Armenian officials will
be the next alarm about the veritable intentions of the Government,"
Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry’s Press Secretary, Khazar Ibrahim,
briefed the media on 19 December.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.
According to Ibrahim, it is a clear indication of a pre-election
hysteria to delude the Armenian people, nevertheless, requiring clear
response and clarifications to avoid any misinterpretations.
"The talks are built on the clear stance of the full restoration
of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over the all
occupied Azerbaijani territories and return of the ethnically cleansed
by the Armenian state displaced people to their lands of origin,
including Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan does not
negotiate its territorial integrity and never will," Ibrahim said.
"At the same time, Azerbaijan has always demonstrated its very good
will through the search of every opportunity to find a peaceful
solution for the conflict and we do not believe that diplomatic
options are exhausted," he said.
According to Ibrahim, Armenia, on the contrary, through continued
military aggression demonstrates its unchanged policy of the use
of force, which is intolerable. "The UN Charter article 51 gives
a full right of self-defense if an armed attack occurs, while we
see a paradox when aggressor state Armenia surpasses a victim of
aggression Azerbaijan in military expenditures as percentage of GDP:
4.3 vs. 3.8. Besides, Armenia has heavily militarized separatists in
Nagorno-Karabakh," he said.
Azerbaijan values the position of international community, which has
unequivocally supported territorial integrity of Azerbaijan through
adoption of resolutions, statements, decisions both on the State
and international organization levels, and we strongly believe that
propaganda by Armenian officials will ring another alarm bell on the
real intentions of the Government of Armenia.