Azerbaijan has condemned the statement by Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, "directed against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Aykhan Hajizada.
"We strongly condemn and categorically reject the statement made by the Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly on 22 September. The Canadian Foreign Minister is once again engaged in manipulations and distortion of facts, instead of familiarising herself with the realities in our region, where conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has ended 4 years ago based on norms and principles of international law," the statement reads.
According to the ministry, Joly is also ignorant about the fact of Azerbaijan’s full restoration of its sovereignty over the Karabakh region in 2023 that ended illegal presence of Armenia’s armed forces and a separatist rejime it has sustained.
"Canadian Foreign Minister’s allegations in reference to Garabagh region targeting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and supporting separatism, demonstrates how “ingenious” and “far-fetched” the foreign policy of Canada is," the ministry said.
It is also unfortunate that the Canadian officials being silent about the ethnic cleansing, massacres and crimes against humanity by Armenia against Azerbaijanis during its military aggression for almost 30 years, disseminate false narrative promoted by the Armenian diaspora about Azerbaijan’s anti-terror measures conducted in its own sovereign territories without targeting any civilians, according to the ministry.
"Canadian Minister’s assertion about the humanitarin crisis in the region, when it has never demonstrated support and interest towards the situation and inalienable rights of almost 1 million IDPs from formerly occupied territories of Azerbaijan and of those who were forcefully deported from Armenia, is an indication of the overt bias of Canada against Azerbaijan," the statement reads.
It was stressed that Canada has no moral right to preach about how the peace and security needs to be established in the region.
"We once again reiterate that such provocative and biased statements are nothing more than an obstacle to the further development and progress of the region on the basis of respect for the principles of international law," the ministry said.
