Armenia’s foreign ministry urges Azerbaijan to stop anti-armenian rhetoric

YEREVAN, January 21. /ARKA/. Azerbaijan must stop its anti-Armenian propaganda that only affects a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict, RA Foreign Minister Edvard Nalbandyan said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“I think Azerbaijan has neither ratcheted nor weakened its anti-Armenian rhetoric. This agitation has always been strong, but if we want to settle the Karabakh problem, we must strengthen mutual trust by stopping any such agitation,” the minister was quoted saying.

It will be of no good if Armenia returns Azerbaijan’s hostile rhetoric, according to Nalbandyan.

The minister believes the anti-Armenian propaganda casts a doubt over whether Azerbaijan is really ready to settle the Karabakh conflict, the minister said, adding Armenia has urged Azerbaijan many times to stop the anti-Armenian rhetoric.

“Even the Moscow declaration considers it necessary that the two nations increase mutual trust,” Nalbandyan said.

On November 2, 2008, the Azeri, Armenian and Russian presidents met in Meiendorf castle (Moscow area) to sign a declaration on Nagorno-Karabakh. The three leaders pledged to combine efforts to improve the situation in the South Caucasus and charged their foreign ministers to keep working on a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

The Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Artsakh, mainly populated by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.

On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority of the population (99.89%) voted for independence from Azerbaijan.

Afterwards, large-scale military operations began as a result of which Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions adjacent to it.

On May 12, 1994 after the signing of the Bishkek cease-fire agreement, the military operations were stopped. Z. Sh. –0-