Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan responded to a number of false statements made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during a panel discussion held within the framework of the Munich Security Conference.

As “Armenpress” informs, the discussion on the security of the South Caucasus held within the framework of the International Conference in Munich, in which the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and the Secretary General of the OSCE Helga Schmid took part, responded to Aliyev’s statement that “there is no such administrative unit as Nagorno Karabakh, the word Nagorno Karabakh is no longer valid’, Pashinyan reminded Aliyev that the 9 November 2020 trilateral statement signed by Aliyev himself contains the wording ‘Nagorno Karabakh’ and cautioned the Azerbaijani leader against making highly dangerous statements that could be viewed as attempts to give religious context to the situation or deepen enmity. Pashinyan said the platform must be used to make things better.

“About Nagorno Karabakh, you know, President [Aliyev] mentioned trilateral statement, on that trilateral statement we have provision, and we have Nagorno Karabakh on trilateral statement and we have signature of the president of Azerbaijan under this document. And we have Lachin corridor that should be freely operable – and by the way according to that trilateral statement – out of control of Azerbaijan, and it is according to the signature of President of Azerbaijan.” Pashinyan noted.

“You know, recently some Armenian children tried to cross the Lachin Corridor by bus, but they were stopped and some masked Azerbaijanis entered the bus. The children were scared, and that was the last attempt of Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh to commute through the Lachin Corridor,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan considered Aliyev’s statement that Armenians destroyed mosques to be groundless.

“”In 2017, several mosques were destroyed in Azerbaijan in order to build other buildings in their place. During the Soviet years, more than 1500 mosques were destroyed in Azerbaijan (it was usual thing for Soviet Union), and you know the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh shouldn’t pay the debts from Soviet times. This is a very alarming narrative, because I am afraid Azerbaijan wants to give a religious context to this whole situation. There is no religious context in the conflict. We have a Muslim minority in Armenia and a functioning mosque. This is the reality,” Pashinyan emphasized.

According to the Prime Minister, the President of Azerbaijan used offensive words in his speech, emphasizing the word “capitulation”.

“It seems that Azerbaijan has adopted the policy of revenge, and maybe that is Azerbaijan’s policy. It was mentioned that our history is very complicated and this is a historic meeting, but for what purpose are we using it: hatred, aggressive rhetoric, or do we want to use this platform to improve the situation? We believe that we should use this platform for constructive purposes. I am proud that our Government held free and competitive elections even after a devastating war. The solution is democracy, transparency, dialogue and respect for all the countries of our region,” Pashinyan concluded.