Azerbaijan’s attempts to distort essence of Karabakh conflict are futile

At the request of Armenpress news agency, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharian commented on Azerbaijani President llham Aliyev’s statement about the inadmissibility of the status quo in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Question: When speaking about the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, Azerbaijani president said recently in Austria that the status quo is inadmissible and that a change in the status quo means the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the so-called “occupied territories of Azerbaijan”. How would you comment on that statement?

Answer: It is no secret that such statements continuously voiced by Azerbaijani leadership are aimed at preventing a change in the status quo.

If Azerbaijan really wanted a change in the status quo, it would reach an agreement on the conflict settlement principles proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs and promote progress in the negotiating process instead of torpedoing it, which was done in Kazan.

Azerbaijan has one opportunity to satisfy its unrestrained aspiration to achieve a change in the status quo in circumvention of the Co-chairs’ format. In order to do it, Azerbaijan should recognize the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and start negotiations with NKR regarding the elimination of the consequences of its aggression, including the status quo.

Azerbaijan’s attempts to distort the essence of the Karabakh-Azerbaijani conflict and the negotiating process are futile. Such distortions, as well as racist statements and actions fomenting hatred for Armenians, only increase the Azerbaijani leadership’s responsibility for massacres and ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population, the armed aggression against the NKR and its consequences, including occupation of the NKR’s territories by Azerbaijan.