058/21, Commentary of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia justifying the aggressive separatism of radical Armenian nationalists of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijan SSR

The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia in support of the illegal decision of February 20, 1988, which marked the beginning of the aggressive separatism of the radical Armenians of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) of the Azerbaijan SSR, indicates that Armenia is still far from responsible behavior and building relations based on the rule of international law.

We would like to remind that this so-called decision contradicted the Constitution of the USSR, the Law on NKAO of 1981, as well as all other relevant normative legal acts.

Armenia's support for aggressive Armenian separatists and its outspoken territorial claims and aggressive policy against Azerbaijan has led to decades of military occupation, bloody ethnic cleansing in the region, violation of the fundamental rights of one million people and great destruction. This situation has seriously hampered the region's sustainable development, peace, security and progress for many years.

At a time when international law has been established, the occupation factor has been eliminated and an agreement has been reached on the cessation of hostilities, official Yerevan again comes out with statements inciting ethnic strife, which is an indicator of the destructive thinking of the Armenian leadership.

We strongly condemn the fact that the Armenian side, instead of fulfilling its obligations and taking practical steps towards normalizing relations between the two states and ensuring peaceful coexistence in the region, encourages enmity. This approach has no future and is nothing more than leading the Armenian people into the abyss.