The Azerbaijani foreign ministry issued a statement accusing Armenia of "encouraging interethnic discord," Azerbaijani media reported. The statement reads as follows:

“We strongly condemn the statement of the Armenian Foreign Ministry in support of the illegal decision of February 20, 1988, which laid the foundation for the aggressive separatism of the radical Armenians of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) of the Azerbaijan SSR.

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

“Armenia's support for aggressive Armenian separatists and its aggressive policy based on territorial claims against Azerbaijan has led to the occupation of the part of Azerbaijan's territory for nearly 30 years, bloody ethnic cleansing in these lands, and violation of the fundamental rights of one million Azerbaijanis.

“Aggressive separatism, described by the Armenian Foreign Ministry as a ‘revival’, has led to a large-scale catastrophe in the region for decades. This situation has seriously hampered the development of the region in peace and security for many years.

“At a time when international law is being established in the region and efforts are being made to normalize relations between the two countries, the Armenian Foreign Ministry's statement encouraging interethnic discord between two nations shows, on the one hand, the country's irresponsible behavior and, on the other, that it had not yet drawn the lessons of the recent events.

“We bring to the attention of the Armenian Foreign Ministry that such a destructive approach has no future.”

The boundless hypocrisy adopted by the official agencies of Azerbaijan is once again manifested in this statement. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan persistently does not want to see the causes of the catastrophe in the region: the massacre of Armenians in Soviet Azerbaijan; the horrific events in Sumgait, Baku, several other cities of the Azerbaijan SSR; the deportation of half a million Armenians of Azerbaijan; the Armenophobia that has been “nurtured” for decades; the hatred being instilled by the Azerbaijani authorities against Armenians; and the promotion of all kinds of military crimes and crimes against humanity against Armenians. This is just an incomplete list of violations and crimes committed by Azerbaijan against ethnic Armenians.

The statements on "peace" are "strengthened" by Azerbaijan with aggression and provocations against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and Armenia, its occupation of the sovereign territory of Armenia, and territorial aspirations.