Azernews.Az

By Sabina Mammadli

Armenia has once again confessed to sending illegal military units to Azerbaijani territories, Azernews reports per Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Leyla Abdullayeva.

The remarks were made in response to remarks by an Armenian high-ranking military officer made at a meeting with parents of conscripts.

“The statement by Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Sahak Sahakyan on the replacement of Armenian conscripts by contractors in Azerbaijan's Karabakh is clearly another confession made by Armenia regarding the sending of illegal military units to Azerbaijan,” the spokesperson said.

Commenting on the matter, Abdullayeva stressed that this is a gross violation by Armenia of the trilateral statement dated November 10, 2020.

“We remind that Article 4 of this statement stipulates the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the territories of Azerbaijan, in parallel with the deployment of Russian peacekeeping contingent to these territories,” she added.

Further, the official pointed out that Azerbaijan has previously repeatedly stated that Armenia violates the provisions of the trilateral statement, including the complete withdrawal of illegal armed groups from Azerbaijan.

According to her, while Azerbaijan is taking steps to normalize relations and build peace in the post-conflict period, this approach by Armenia clearly demonstrates the latter's interest in creating tension in the region rather than peace.

“This statement by the Armenian official shows that the talks of the Armenian side about peace are nothing but hypocrisy. It also clearly shows the aggressive policy of the Armenian side,” she finalized.

To recap, on May 22, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, European Council President Charles Michel, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met in Brussels. After the meeting, Michel said that Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed on a number of key issues, including the creation of border delimitation commissions, of which the first meeting was held on May 24.

Earlier, Ilham Aliyev stated that peace will return to the Caucasus based on the five principles Baku recently proposed for normalizing relations with Armenia.

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Sabina Mammadli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SabinaMmdl

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