Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of “preparing the genocide of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh”

The Armenian Prime Minister affirms that Baku’s actions pose “a threat to security” in the region

Nov. 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinián accused Azerbaijan on Thursday of “preparing the genocide of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh” and stated that Baku’s actions pose “a threat to security” in the South Caucasus region.

Pashinián has stated that the Azeri authorities have violated the trilateral agreements -signed with Russia- on numerous occasions in November 2021 and October 2022 to set a ceasefire and open the door to peace, as reported by the Armenian agency armenpress news.

Thus, he stressed that Azerbaijan’s actions “are not only a violation of the aforementioned trilateral communiqués, but a preparation for the genocide of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh”, statements that come amid bilateral efforts to sign a peace agreement .

“Azerbaijan illegally occupied the settlements of Jtsaberd and Hin Tagher, in Nagorno-Karabakh, in violation of the trilateral statement of November 2020, according to which a total ceasefire agreement was established and all hostilities in the conflict zone were stopped” , has explained.

The Armenian Prime Minister has also denounced a similar Azeri operation in March 2022, when they occupied areas where Russian peacekeeping troops were deployed, before stressing that Baku “violates the ceasefire on an almost daily basis”.

In this sense, he criticized that the Azeri authorities have not taken steps for “a visible dialogue” with Yerevan and pointed out that Baku “tries to present itself in a constructive way and conveys that the rights and security of the citizens of Nagorno-Karabakh are guaranteed”.

“To what extent this statement is true can be demonstrated in practice by checking the conditions created by Azerbaijan and the steps it has taken for the safe return of thousands of displaced residents of Hadrut and other Armenian-populated territories in Nagorno-Karabakh. for the 44 days of war in 2022”, he said.

Thus, he reiterated that “Azeraijan has not taken any step on this path” and recalled that Russian troops must remain deployed in the area for five years, according to the 2020 agreement, with an “automatic extension for periods of five years” . “I repeat. Automatic extension”, he has stressed her.

“This, in fact, means that peacekeeping troops are deployed indefinitely in Nagorno-Karabakh until all issues related to the rights and security of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh are addressed and all security issues are resolved,” has pointed.

Pashinián has also reported that Yerevan has presented a proposal to create a demilitarized zone three kilometers deep on both sides of the border established in 1991. “The proposal is standing and yesterday we delivered an updated version to Azerbaijan. I insist that the Forces Azeri armies must withdraw from all occupied parts of the sovereign territory of Armenia, a position that we will never change,” he explained.

On the other hand, he has charged against the Azeri president, Ilham Aliyev, for a speech on Tuesday that, in his opinion, was full of “indirect threats to the international community and direct threats against Armenia”. The speech was given after a meeting of foreign ministers in the United States in which the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, was present.

In it, the Foreign Ministers of both countries agreed to “accelerate negotiations” to try to reach a peace agreement after their recent clashes and have agreed to organize another meeting “in the coming weeks,” according to a joint statement published after the meeting in Washington.

For its part, the Armenian Ministry of Defense has denounced during the day that a soldier has been injured “seriously” due to an Azeri attack against a “combat position” in the border area, according to a brief statement published on its page Web.

Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire on September 15 and in early October agreed to commit to the UN Charter and the 1991 Declaration of Alma Ata, through which both countries recognize the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the other . After that, the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinián, stressed before Parliament that he hopes that the peace treaty with Azerbaijan will be signed before the end of the year.

The two countries have been involved in various confrontations in recent years over control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory with a majority Armenian population that has been the focus of conflict since it decided to separate in 1988 from the Azerbaijan region integrated into the Soviet Union.