The Azerbaijani side, which was outraged  by a fair position of Cypriot authorities  over the Karabakh conflict, is trying to take “counter measures.”

Within the framework of his official visit to Cyprus, Defense Minister of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan met with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

Following the meeting, the press service of the Armenian Defense Ministry distributed a  release, which states: “The sides touched upon the Cyprus problem and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. According to the Foreign Minister of Cyprus, drawing parallels is wrong, as unlike Northern Cyprus, occupied by Turkey, Artsakh is the historical territory of Armenians.”

This quote became a reason for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's representative to complaint and then to try to “neutralize” the statement of the Foreign Minister of Cyprus.

To this end, the Azerbaijani news agency haqqin.az has addressed the Cypriot political scientist Petros Kareklas. The last allegedly redirected the appeal to the Cypriot Foreign Ministry and received a response, as a result of which the news agency published a “refutation”.

“The Foreign Minister of Cyprus categorically denies that he made such a statement at a meeting with the Defense Minister of Armenia or in other place,” Kareklas said.

Beyond the question, whether political scientist has a right to undertake the functions of the press service of the ministry, there is something more important. The Foreign Ministry of Cyprus did not even think about denial of the information.

“No way of retracting back anything he said. So the idea that we might issue a “balanced” or “pro-Azerbaijani” statement is unsubstantiated,” the ministry said.