Aliyev says Azerbaijan has no intention of attacking Armenia, slams EU and France
- 2 March, 13:35
President Ilham Aliyev has said that Azerbaijan has no plans of attacking neighbouring Armenia, and also criticized France for “demonizing” his country.
Aliyev was commenting on the latest statements of the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
“Borrell said that if Azerbaijan attacks Armenia, it will lead to serious consequences. First of all, where did Borrell get the information that Azerbaijan plans to attack Armenia? We do not have such plans. Those are Mr. Macron’s hints. All of this is part of the anti-Azerbaijan policy based on demonizing our country, supposedly related to Azerbaijan's alleged preparation for an attack on Armenia,” Aliyev said.
He made the remarks while receiving the delegation led by Michael Harms, Chairman of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy in Baku on February 28. Furthermore, he stated that Azerbaijan perceives such statements as a veiled threat against his country. Speaking on the situation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, Aliyev said the situation has been stable since last September with the only exception of the incident in February when Armenian sniper injured an Azerbaijani soldier on the border, which prompted Azerbaijan to launch a response attack. During the meeting with the German politician, Aliyev also commented on PACE’s decision to suspend the Azerbaijani delegation’s right to vote. Reminding that it was a German MP who initiated such a decision, Aliyev threatened that if the rights of the Azerbaijani delegation were not restored within one year, the country would seriously consider the total departure from the Council of Europe.
Aliyev’s remarks came as the two countries’ foreign ministers met in Berlin for Germany-mediated peace talks, in a new push to resolve the conflict in the South Caucasus.
Azerbaijan recaptured the rest of Nagorno-Karabakh region last September in a lightning operation that lasted less than a day.
