FM: Armenia’s purposeful, biased ignorance deceives Armenians, diaspora

Armenian leadership would better read the UN Security Council’s resolutions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan NagornoKarabakh conflict, said Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry.

He made the remark when commenting on the remarks made by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian during the 4th European Armenian Convention.

"It would be better for Armenian foreign minister not to repeat his nonsense thoughts and at least try to behave as a professional," Hajiyev told Trend.

“In its resolutions, the UN Security Council condemns the occupation of Azerbaijani lands, confirms Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of borders and demands the immediate, absolute and unconditional withdrawal of the occupation forces,” he said. “At the same time, these resolutions once again reiterate that NagornoKarabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan.”

"Regretfully, alongside with creating negative experience for the negotiations, this purposeful and biased ignorance by the Armenian side deceives Armenian citizens, as well as Armenian diaspora," added Hajiyev.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.