Armenian Foreign Ministry: Poor memory or another hysteria? Memo to Armenian diplomats from Caliber.Az

The Armenian authorities still inadequately interpret the statements of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the results of the 44-day war, trying to portray Armenia as a victim of military aggression and seemingly forgetting that it was their country that kept the Azerbaijani territories under occupation for 30 years. Proof of this is another howling of the Armenian Foreign Ministry about what Ilham Aliyev said during his visit to the Zangilan region.

Addressing either the international community or Azerbaijan, the Armenian Foreign Ministry uttered another meaningless cliché in this case, saying that "pretension against the sovereign territory of a neighboring state, speaking from a position of force is nothing but contempt for international law".

Actually, everything is correct, but what does this have to do with Azerbaijan? This reference to international law refers to Armenia directly. It still controls 7 settlements in the Gazakh region of Azerbaijan and Karki village in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Karki is not situated in the Karabakh region, but in January of 1990, it was occupied in violation of provisions of the Kars Treaty of 1921. Later, other Azerbaijani enclaves in Armenia were occupied - Yukhary Askipara (June 8, 1992) and Barkhudarli (April 27, 1992).

Other villages of the Gazakh region of Azerbaijan were also occupied: Ashagi Askipara (June 14, 1992), Gizilhajili (May 11, 1992), Heirimli (March 8, 1992), Sofulu (April 27, 1992), and Baghanis Ayrum (March 24, 1990).

Suppose the Armenian Foreign Ministry employs professional diplomats, which implies sensible and balanced thinking. In that case, it should be aware that such actions are regarded as an act of military aggression in the civilized world. The specialists in foreign relations should know that according to the Declaration of Independence, adopted on August 23, 1990, by the Armenian Parliament, Nagorno-Karabakh was "reunified" with Armenia. This provision is also enshrined in the 1995 Constitution of Armenia. Thereby, at the legislative level, the state declared the annexation of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. On July 8, 1992, the Supreme Council of the country adopted a resolution on the inadmissibility of any international or national documents, which would mention the Nagorno-Karabakh region as a part of Azerbaijan.

Moreover, for years Armenia ignored the UN Security Council resolutions on the Karabakh conflict, which explicitly recognized the Karabakh region as part of Azerbaijan.

And now, when Azerbaijan has returned its lands by military means, the Armenian Foreign Ministry cynically speaks about its alleged disrespect for international law, and moreover, claims that "such behavior casts serious doubt on the sincerity of Baku's intentions to achieve peace in the region".

That is, Yerevan is still trying to prove that "the Karabakh conflict is not a territorial dispute and its essence is to support the rights of the Karabakh Armenians" and wants to disguise the military aggression against Azerbaijan in such a really ridiculous way. They say that Armenia has nothing to do with the occupation of the territories of its neighbors.

The authors of this pseudo-diplomatic opus should refresh their memory: as we know, the Karabakh conflict began with a demand to transfer the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) to the Armenian SSR of the Azerbaijan SSR. In 1989, under the leadership of one of the bloody executioners of the Azerbaijani people, Robert Kocharyan, a social and political organization "Miatsum" ("Reunification") was founded, whose main goal was the annexation of NKAO to Armenia. In August 2019, current Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, while in the occupied Azerbaijani city of Khankendi, declared that "Karabakh is Armenia". And after that, the Armenian Foreign Ministry dares to claim that the Karabakh conflict was not a territorial dispute?!

Yerevan diplomats should also familiarize themselves with the final statements of the negotiations in Brussels. There is no mention of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries. In this case, how can this structure preserve the international mandate received in 1995 to support a comprehensive settlement of the Karabakh issue? The co-chair countries of the Minsk Group have changed the status of their representatives, but the Armenian Foreign Ministry seems not to be aware of these developments.

Despite the fact that more than a year and a half has passed since the signing of the trilateral statement on a cease-fire, the Armenian leadership ignores the fulfillment of its obligations, trying to gain time. At the same time, Yerevan does not take into account that even now time is working against Armenia.