Azerbaijan condemns provocative statements of Iranian ambassador to Armenia

Aykhan Hajizada, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, has criticized the inflammatory remarks made by Iran's ambassador to Armenia, Mehdi Sobhani.

“We strongly condemn baseless and provocative opinions voiced by Mehdi Sobhani, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Republic of Armenia during his interview to Armenian CivilNet platform on November 10, 2023,” Hajizada said in a statement, Caliber.Az reports.

According to the diplomat, these views undermine Azerbaijan-Iran relations, which are based on mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty and contradict the position expressed by the Iranian President during the two countries' meeting in Tashkent on November 9, 2023.

"During the aforementioned meeting, Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, mentioned with pleasure that Azerbaijan ensured its territorial integrity after many years and Garabagh returned to Azerbaijan.

Against the backdrop of the remarks of the President of Iran, as well as recent positive dynamics in the development of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Iran, we consider the position of the Iranian Ambassador against our territorial integrity and sovereignty as a provocation.

 We expect Iran to prevent such steps, which are inappropriate to the spirit of our relations, as well as to take necessary steps regarding the opinions voiced by the Ambassador,” Hajizada stressed.

To recap, Sobhani expressed opposition to communications and channels extending beyond Armenia's sovereignty, putting the independence of the country into question. He stated that, from their perspective, any path not under the control and sovereignty of Armenia is deemed unacceptable.