Azerbaijan is attempting to mislead the international community, presenting the consequences of the Karabakh conflict as its causes, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said, addressing the UN General Assembly in New York.

Nalbandian noted that in a statement issued in the margins of the OSCE Ministerial in Almaty, the OSCE MG Co-Chairs reiterated that the principles of Karabakh conflict settlement have been convinced as an integrated whole and “any attempts to select some of them over others would make it impossible to achieve a balanced solution.”  

“Unfortunately, Azerbaijan rejects two of these mentioned principles and is attempting to turn upside down not only the essence of the negotiation process, but also to distort the nature of the conflict in various international platforms, including the UN General Assembly, as it happened here again about two weeks ago and two days ago,” he said.

In his speech Nalbandian stressed that Azerbaijan “represents a threat to regional peace and security”. “Unabated war rhetoric, increased violations of the ceasefire regime, and the unprecedented increase of the military budget by Azerbaijan only exacerbates the situation, raising concerns over the sustainability of the already fragile stability in the region,” Armenian FM stated.

Speaking about peoples’ right to self-determination, he stressed that it is a fundamental and indispensable right enshrined in the Charter of the UN.  “The Nagorno-Karabakh people had to pursue their right to self-determination as they were being denied their right to existence,” the Armenian FM said.

He also touched upon Azerbaijan’s destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage in Nakhichevan. “Thousands of these giant medieval sculptures were bulldozed under the Azerbaijani government’s watchful eyes and this era was turned into a military ground in a government sanctioned operation,” he added, calling to condemn their actions.