The Azerbaijani and Armenian embassies in Russia had battle of words,
published by the media.
Azerbaijani ambassador Polad Biulbiuloglu said at a meeting with
veterans on Victory Day that Azerbaijan is determined to restore the
country's unity, using force if peace negotiations fail.The head of
the Armenian diplomatic mission in Moscow Oleg Yesayan, reacted by
accusing the Azerbaijani side of warlike declarations and militarism.
The Azerbaijani envoy said Azerbaijan has time and again declared its
commitment to solving the conflict via peace negotiations. However, he
said that if the negotiations see no results, Baku maintains the right
to use force.
The protection of a homeland is part of the UN Charter and cannot be
debated, he said. The realization of the right to free the Azerbaijani
territories cannot be considered warlike declarations. Azerbaijan he
went on, has never taken up a nationalistic position trying to create
a mono-ethnic country, unlike Armenia.
Azerbaijan never tried claiming lands of other countries, he said. Who
can be called a militarist? he asked. Surely it is not a country that
lost 20% of its territories, which got 1 million refugees from
Karabakh and Armenia itself. Baku promotes the economic restoration of
the territories that suffered from occupation. Azerbaijani never
attempted to take the territories of Armenia, where hundreds of
thousands of Azerbaijani lived until 1987-88 and were gradually
squeezed out during Soviet times and then massively in the 1980s, he
concluded.
