Artsakh slammed Azerbaijan for once again “distorting reality” over the issue of the status of Artsakh, as Baku again generated fake news.
In an interview with ARMENPRESS, Artsakh’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Davit Babayan called on Baku to stop distorting the reality. “Certainly this isn’t Azerbaijani territory”, Babayan said. “That’s what they want – to make Artsakh their territory, but this doesn’t mean they’ll succeed.”
FM Babayan dismissed Baku’s accusations that Armenia is deploying its armed forces into Artsakh. “There is no movement or deployment of troops from the side of Armenia,” he said. Babayan further noted that both the Azeri military actions, as well as the similar statements coming out of Baku seek to achieve the same goal – to exert psychological pressure and intimidate Artsakhis. Besides, the Azeri authorities also try to undermine the Armenian-Russian relations and prepare grounds for cutting Artsakh’s communication with Armenia.
“And tomorrow they’ll say ‘we have to check and see who’s coming from Armenia’ and so on. That’s how they planned it – to suffocate Artsakh from social-economic perspective and to obstruct investments,” Babayan said, adding that anyhow such statements should be treated seriously and countered appropriately.
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Highly appreciating the role of the Russian peacekeeping forces, FM Babayan stressed that when they mention “Armenian forces” or “Armenian formations” once should remember that this includes the Defense Army of Artsakh – the guarantee of security of the Artsakh population. “We will always have our army, our military, because this too is our population’s security guarantee. While generally, Armenia certainly is still one of the guarantors of security of Artsakh. And overall, if we want the future of both Armenia and Artsakh to be predictable and safe, then Artsakh’s role and place should be high in Armenia’s social-political life. Without this things will really go bad. And the instigators, the enemies who generate the so called “Karabakhi-Armenian” [division], starting from their everyday life up to official statements, must already face criminal responsibility,” Babayan said.
On August 11, the Azeri defense ministry falsely accused Armenia for violating the armistice terms and deploying troops into “Azeri territory”. In response, the Armenian foreign ministry slammed the statement as “outright falsification” and reminded that the armistice stipulates “the sides shall remain at their current positions.”
