Azerbaijan promises reintegration and citizenship to Garabagh Armenians MFA spox Hajizada talks to The Insider
A spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Aykhan Hajizada has said that for the last three years, since the end of the 44-day war, Azerbaijan has on numerous occasions stated its readiness to provide safety, security, and all the rights under Azerbaijani legislation and constitution to all ethnicities, including Armenians.
“Azerbaijan considers ethnic Armenians living in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan as part of Azerbaijani society and is always ready to protect their rights and security in line with the national legislation,” Hajizada said in an interview with The Insider, according to Caliber.Az.
"Over the last two days, we carried out counter-terrorist measures against the illegal Armenian armed forces that had remained stationed in Azerbaijan in violation of the trilateral statement of November 10th, 2020, after the end of the war, which enshrines in Article 4 that the Armenian armed forces should withdraw in parallel with the deployment of the Russian peacekeeping forces, but which has not been fulfilled. The last few days saw military provocations and actions against Azerbaijani troops and civilians that claimed six lives: four military personnel and two civilians, killed as a result of Armenian troops’ sabotage and reconnaissance operation, which led to military escalation," he noted.
In turn, Azerbaijan took anti-terrorism measures against those local armed forces, Hajizada added.
"As you've heard today, the puppet regime agreed to disband, disarm, and withdraw all of the armed forces located in the territory of Azerbaijan. It has also agreed to hold a meeting on the 21st of September to discuss all of these issues and the process of the local Armenian population’s reintegration into Azerbaijani society in line with Azerbaijan’s constitution and legislation. As always, Azerbaijan declares the willingness of its government to provide all rights and security to Armenians who disarmed voluntarily," an MFA spokesperson said.
However, he noted, when it comes to elements of the separatist regime who have committed crimes against humanity and taken other actions against the civilian population of Azerbaijan in the last 30 years, there will be additional measures against them. Azerbaijan has already provided a wanted list of individuals responsible for crimes against humanity and massacres of Azerbaijanis.
“When taking counter-terrorism measures in the last two days, we openly declared that were are not targeting the civilian population living in the Garabagh region of Azerbaijan, and we've called on them to stay at home, away from the areas of combat activity and the locations of military outposts. That is very important. We made a public announcement. We also sent online messages to the local population that none of our measures were targeting the civilian population. And this was the case in the actual military operation," Hajiaza said.
"As the Armenian side has declared, there were very minor losses among the civilian population. We cannot verify those claims, but despite the large scale of our counterterrorism measures, almost no civilians were targeted. There were no civilian casualties, despite the scale of the anti-terrorism measures. And we'd assured the population that they would not be targeted. And we'd assured that Azerbaijan is ready to provide security and safety," added the official.
Hajizada said that for the last three years, since the end of the 44-day war, Armenian leadership has been prone to military and political provocations, including some misleading, very inconsistent statements about Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"We hope the anti-terrorism measures taken by Azerbaijan will result in the disarmament and withdrawal of all Armenian troops from the territories of Azerbaijan, thus laying the groundwork for a better future for Azerbaijan and Armenia and ensuring progress in the peace process between the two countries. The absence of military escalation from the Armenian side in these two days is a positive sign, but we hope that Armenia will also refrain from voicing statements and taking action against Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and will recognize Garabagh as part of Azerbaijan in word and deed," he stressed.
Hajizada believes that the measures taken by Azerbaijan will bring peace and progress to the region.
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