AZERBAIJAN BLAMES ARMED CLASH ON ARMENIA
Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS
March 4, 2008
Russia
Azerbaijan has blamed Armenia for the current Azeri-Armenian armed
clash and has described the battle as an Armenian ploy to distract
global attention from the current domestic conflict in Armenia over
the results of a presidential election.
"Everyone both within Azerbaijan and abroad can see quite well what
is happening in Armenia in actual fact," Azeri Foreign Ministry
spokesman Khazar Ibragim told Interfax, in comments on a claim by
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian that Azerbaijan is taking
advantage of Armenia’s domestic political crisis.
"In actual fact, the Armenian leadership, using the head of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of that country as its mouthpiece,
is trying to distract the attention of its public and the world
community from its obvious domestic political problems by employing
the external factor," Ibragim said.
"The Armenian side is using the image of Azerbaijan as its external
enemy," he said.
Azerbaijan does not interfere in the home affairs of any state and
Armenia’s crisis is that country’s internal matter, "but Azerbaijan
will respond to any provocation from the Armenian side," the spokesman
said.