Armenian diplomat accuses Azerbaijan of urging “fresh bloodshed”
Arminfo
23 Mar 05
Yerevan, 23 March: The report of the OSCE mission which has visited
the territories under the control of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic
[to examine reports on Armenian resettlement in those territories],
as well as an accompanying letter by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen,
prove that Azerbaijan is becoming a victim of its own illusions and
propaganda because the data in the report almost completely dispel
Azerbaijan’s “concerns” and “the data” submitted by this country, the
press secretary of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Gamlet Gasparyan,
has said commenting on a statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry
issued yesterday [22 March].
The statement obviously demonstrates that the Azerbaijani propaganda
machine has got into a muddle over the figures invented by
itself, Gasparyan said. For example, they speak about 17,000 people
“discovered” by the mission against 23,000 reported earlier and claim
that these figures are similar. However, a simple calculation of the
figures in the mission’s report demonstrates that the population is
only 13,000 maximum.
“We would not like to go into details and teach arithmetic to others,
they should have learnt adding in primary school. We, however,
think that all this is not about arithmetic, but the tactic of the
Azerbaijani side, that is to do its best to hamper serious discussion
of the issue because they are not ready for any serious commitment.
The latter envisages political responsibility before the international
community and own people. Bellicose statements, which have been
frequently made recently, are the sign of the aforesaid tactic by
the Azerbaijan side. It seems that not enough blood has been shed
between the two countries. They now urge fresh bloodshed,” he said.
Commenting on the Azerbaijani side’s allegations that Armenia is
involved in the resettlement in the territories under the control
of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic, Gasparyan said that “this has
been turned upside-down as well”. “The text of the report and the
accompanying letter by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen give a detailed
answer to this question,” he added.
[Passage omitted: details of the mission’s report]
Asked whether Azerbaijan could continue to insist on the discussion
of the resettlement issue at the UN, Gasparyan said that as the
co-chairmen’s letter read, the goal of the OSCE monitoring mission
was to put an end to Azerbaijan’s speculations on this issue at the UN.
“If the Azerbaijani side continues to raise this issue at the UN,
it will show to what degree the Azerbaijani government respects its
own promise to the international community, in particular, to the
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen. If nevertheless Azerbaijan continues to
put forward this initiative at the UN General Assembly, it will fully
lose its authority as a partner in the [peace] talks,” Gasparyan said.