'Armenia should develop civil relations with its neighbors,' says Azerbaijan FM spokesman
By Ruslan Rehimov
BAKU, Azerbaijan
An Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman said Armenia should stop spreading "untrue allegations" against Turkey.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Monday, Hikmet Hajiyev said : "Armenia should withdraw its troops from Azerbaijani territories and should end its untrue allegations against Turkey."
Occupied Karabakh is recognized as Azerbaijani territory by the international community but was taken over by Armenian secessionists as the Soviet Union broke up in the late 1980s.
"Armenia should develop civil relations with its neighbors," said Hajiyev, adding Armenia was alienated in the region because of its offensive policies.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry, in a statement on Saturday, has accused Turkey for being responsible of the delay in the ratification process of the Zurich protocols and has repeated its claims regarding the 1915 events.
The stalled 2009 Zurich protocols between Turkey and Armenia proposed opening the border as well as mending diplomatic relations.
"Armenia is facing a socio-economic and demographic crisis. […] The Yerevan administration tries to fool the Armenian people and [hold on to power] by portraying Azerbaijan and Turkey as enemies," he said.
Hajiyev commented on the Armenian Foreign Ministry's remarks on the events of 1915.
"The claims are a clear example of fake historiography and the using of this fake historiography for political purposes," Hajiyev said.
"Armenia, which talks about the so-called genocide, does not talk about the savagery that Armenians showed in Anatolia in World War I, does not talk about the massacres they perpetrated in Baku in 1918."
Ankara does not accept the alleged genocide, but acknowledges that there were casualties on both sides during World War I.
Turkey objects to the presentation of the incidents as 'genocide' but describes the 1915 events as a tragedy for both sides.
Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia plus international experts, to tackle the issue.