Armenian forces must leave Karabakh if Armenia is interested in building a democracy and ensuring prosperity of the Armenian people and development of the region, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry press secretary Leyla Abdullayeva said in her comments on the recent statement by Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.

“Armenia is far from stopping the policy of aggression it has been pursuing for decades […] or demonstrating the intention to establish normal relations with neighbors and to show respect for principles of international law, first and foremost, the territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders,” Abdullayeva said.

If Mnatsakanyan is truly “interested in building a democracy and ensuring prosperity and security of his people and progress in the region, then the Armenian Armed Forces must immediately leave the occupied Azerbaijani lands,” she said.

“Only then it will be possible to talk about human values, democracy, and value of human life,” Abdullayeva said.

“Whenever we speak about the will and the final say of the people, either in Armenia or in Nagorno-Karabakh, we speak about simple democratic principles,” Mnatsakanyan told the Internet portal tert.am last week. “Our people have elected the government and vested it with power, which the government is using to assume the responsibility and to participate in […] the peace process in Nagorno-Karabakh,” he said.