Azerbaijan recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent entity in 1994 when it signed a cease-fire agreement, RA Deputy Foreign Ministry Shavarsh Kocharyan stated in Parliament on Thursday.

As to Azerbaijan’s propaganda against the background of the Armenia’s side’s relative passivity, Sh. Kocharyan first tried to shift the RA Foreign Office’s responsibility onto Armenian mass media, saying that they are much inferior to their Azeri counterparts. However, Armenian MPs advised him to lay the responsibility on the press – many politicians do not know official terms related to the Nagorno-Karabkah conflict and use terms normally used in Azerbaijan, such as “occupied territories”, “territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

Shavarsh Kocharyan had to admit the Azerbaijani propaganda is more active. “However, we are strong as we tell the truth,” he assured MPs. He also stressed that lie is often presented as truth.

According to him, Azerbaijan shows the international community its true colors by its warlike statements and actions. Azerbaijani propaganda, often successfully, attempts to distort the essence of the Karabakh conflict, presenting it only as a territorial dispute, the Armenian side being an aggressor. “Azerbaijan is an aggressor itself, as it started the conflict, whereas the Karabakh people had to fight and is continuing its struggle for independence,” Sh. Kocharyan said.

He also complained that certain regional actors, in particular Turkey, destabilize the situation in the region, inciting Azerbaijan to stronger-worded statements and a harder line. Azerbaijan has neither domestic nor foreign policy, only propaganda. Azerbaijan’s domestic policy is aimed at praising Ilham Aliyev, while foreign policy at spreading lie about the Karabakh conflict, Sh. Kocharyan concluded.

A.G.