Armenian PM on reasons and goals of Azerbaijan’s latest terrorist act in Nagorno-Karabakh
YEREVAN, March 9. /ARKA/. Azerbaijan is pursuing several goals with the March 5 terrorist attack, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the government sitting today.
“The first is the aborting of further negotiations with representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh and creating the necessary background for a new military provocation. In this regard, I must emphasize that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nagorno-Karabakh made a statement yesterday, expressing readiness to continue the conversation with Azerbaijan, and this is an extremely important statement,” he said.
He stressed the need to create reliable international mechanisms for uninterrupted and institutional dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert, which can become an effective guarantee for the realization of the above-mentioned international agreement.
“The next goal of the March 5 provocation was to create false evidence that weapons and ammunition are being transported from Armenia to Nagorno Karabakh. This topic is important for Azerbaijan especially after the February 22 decision of the International Court of Justice, when the court unequivocally rejected Azerbaijan’s request to apply an interim measure against Armenia over alleged planting of landmines. This refusal ruined the groundless accusations against Armenia about landmines, which have been on all international platforms for several months now, and this was extremely important,” the Prime Minister said.
According to PM Pashinyan, Azerbaijan tried to present the incident of March 5 as proof of the transfer of weapons and ammunition from the Republic of Armenia to Nagorno Karabakh, which did not work for two reasons.
“First, the UAZ of the police was not going to Stepanakert, but leaving Stepanakert. And secondly, the attack of Azerbaijan and also the trajectory of the UAZ car from Stepanakert to the scene of the incident were caught on cameras of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Nagorno-Karabakh, which made it obvious that there was nothing in the Police car except for documents and a handgun,” he emphasized.
“The next important goal of Azerbaijan was the following: to use bloody terrorism to create new discourses, new information flows, which will cover an important fact of Azerbaijan’s failure to comply with the decision of the world’s highest court – the International Court of Justice – regarding the opening of the Lachin Corridor,” he said.
With a binding decision, the UN Court obliged Azerbaijan to take all measures available to guarantee the uninterrupted movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo in both directions through the Lachin Corridor. The decision has not been implemented for 15 days now.
“Therefore, it becomes more and more urgent to send an international fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin Corridor to prevent unleashing of new aggression by Azerbaijan and the clear preparations of Azerbaijan to subject the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to ethnic cleansing and genocide, which is expressed by failure to comply with the decisions of international courts, continued blockade of the Lachin Corridor, military provocations and acts of terrorism,” PM Pashinyan stated.
At the same time, he reaffirmed the desire of the Republic of Armenia to achieve peace in the region and its commitment to the peace agenda. -0-
