“By making this destructive and provocative statement, the Armenian side again puts the region face to face with threats and risks, and intentionally escalates the situation to divert public attention from its domestic issues,” said head of the Department of Foreign Policy Affairs of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev as he commented on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement made during his illegal visit to the city of Khankendi.

Hajiyev said that Azerbaijan strongly refuted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement that "Karabakh is Armenia" voiced by him during his illegal visit to Khankendi.

“Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan! Nagorno-Karabakh is a historical Azerbaijani land and its integral part. The international community recognizes and supports territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Azerbaijan, including of Nagorno-Karabakh. The people and state of Azerbaijan will never reconcile themselves with the violation of the territorial integrity of their country as a result of the occupation and bloody ethnic cleansing committed by Armenia, and will not allow attempts to unite Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia,” Hikmat Hajiyev noted.

“Armenian PM Pashinyan’s statements that the occupied Azerbaijani territories are Armenia and his calls to join Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia openly demonstrate again that Armenia’s real aim is the occupation. The calls for accession of the occupied Azerbaijani territories to Armenia must be considered as irresponsibility and disregard for the international community and, in particular, for the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, who are responsible for the settlement of the conflict via negotiations. Armenia, at the prime minister’s level, crushes and insults the international norms and principles, the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and completely destroys the negotiation process on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is being conducted through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. Afterwards, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group must answer the question regarding the future of the negotiation process,” the Presidential Administration official stressed.

“By making this statement, the Armenian PM refutes his own words, and recognizes that his recent statements that he 'cannot speak on behalf of Nagorno-Karabakh' are nothing but nonsense and lies. Thus, the Armenian leadership openly confirms that its participation in the negotiations has been nothing but hypocrisy, misleading the international community,” Hikmat Hajiyev said.

“We would like to assure the Armenian leadership that the attempts of adding the occupied Azerbaijani territories to Armenia are a mere fantasy and these attempts are as utopian as the goals for Armenia’s development by 2050. By making this destructive and provocative statement, the Armenian side again puts the region face to face with new threats and risks, and intentionally escalates the situation to divert the public attention from its domestic issues. Armenia bears the sole responsibility for the current situation. Let no one doubt that Azerbaijan will ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders and the return of its citizens, who were subjected to ethnic cleansing, to their native lands, and the supremacy of international law,” the Presidential Administration official emphasized.