The reports by the UN Security Council committees dealing with antiterrorism matters were discussed at the Council session on Thursday, which was chaired by Azerbaijan. 

But taking advantage of its Council Chairmanship, Azerbaijan attempted to reject Armenia’s request to take the floor, acknowledging that the Armenian side will respond to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev’s false statements made last week at the UN.  As a result of the pressure applied by the Council-member countries, however, the Azerbaijani chairmanship was compelled to allow Armenia’s Ambassador to UN, Karen Nazaryan, to address the Council. 

In his intervention, Nazaryan noted that one of the main obstacles standing in the way of regional cooperation in fight against the crime of terrorism is the closed borders with neighboring countries, and he expressed a concern that the international organizations are clearly pointing out that the territory of Azerbaijan is freely used by a variety of terrorist and extreme religious groups.   

Armenia’s ambassador added that the Azerbaijani authorities’ ties to pro-al-Qaeda terrorist groups are well known and documented, that these groups had tried to fight against Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s, and that is why vigilance needs to be manifested.       

Incidentally, the Armenian MFA’s statement, with respect to Aliyev’s May 4 address—which had caused the member countries’ bewilderment and evident discontent—, was formally put into circulation at UN.