ArmInfo. The threat of a rocket attack by Azerbaijan at the Armenian nuclear power plant is a gross violation of international humanitarian law, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to Italy Tsovinar Hambardzumyan stated about this in the interview to the Italian "La Verita" newspaper.
According to her, such threats best demonstrate the true face of this state. "We consider this statement as a sign of state nuclear terrorism. This statement poses a threat to all the peoples of the region, including the people of Azerbaijan. One observation: for many years, Azerbaijan has constantly raised the issue of the safety of a nuclear power plant in various international organizations, noting that it is in a seismic zone, allegedly outdated, and so on. And now Azerbaijan is threatening to destroy it. We think that this clearly shows that all the so-called fears of Azerbaijan are anti-Armenian, "the diplomat said. She stated with regret that human life in Azerbaijan is not a value, not to mention the life of the people of Nagorno- Karabakh.
Speaking about the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Ambassador, first of all, thanked the Italian authorities, and personally the Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi Di Maio, for a balanced approach to the settlement of the conflict. "I highly appreciate the approach taken by the Italian side during the July events. We expect that the Italian authorities will continue to show a balanced, impartial approach and support the peace process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co- chairmanship, "the ambassador said.
Answering the question who was the first to start hostilities during the July events, Tsovinar Hambardzumyan recalled Armenia's proposals to introduce mechanisms of investigations on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan and on the Line of Contact of the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, which were rejected by official Baku. <A party that is not going to attack should not object to these mechanisms. Have you ever heard hostile calls from Armenia to the people of Azerbaijan? Azerbaijan does it every day. Who calls the Armenians enemy number one, organizing demonstrations in the streets of Baku under the slogan "Death to Armenians"?>
The current escalation of hostilities has highlighted the need for enhanced security and confidence-building measures, such as establishing direct communication between commanders and introducing monitoring and investigation mechanisms. However, it is not Armenia and Artsakh, but Azerbaijan that consistently opposes to the introduction of these measures, "the Armenian diplomat noted.
She also pointed to the role of Turkey in exacerbating the situation. According to Tsovinar Hambardzumyan, the role of Turkey, to put it mildly, as always, is destructive. "Unfortunately, Turkey is becoming more and more dangerous as it has become an exporter of instability to various regions, be it the Mediterranean, Africa or the Asian region. Turkey is currently trying to export this policy to the South Caucasus. Their unconditional support for Azerbaijan and their destructive role in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is only part of Turkey's neo-Ottoman policy, "the Armenian diplomat said.