24 Oct 2018 20:06

Baku again refuses to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as party to conflict, accuses Pashinyan of 'destructive statements'

BAKU. Oct 24 (Interfax) - The self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's participation in the negotiating process for settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unacceptable to Baku, Hikmet Hajiyev, a deputy chief of the Azerbaijani presidential administration's foreign policy department, told journalists.

"Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statements regarding the so-called self-proclaimed regime in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan participating in the negotiating process on settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh are destructive and absolutely unacceptable," Hajiyev said.

"Armenia occupied Azerbaijani territories by using force. The Armenian Armed Forces are continuing to be unlawfully present on the occupied territories. Therefore, based on the imperative norms of international law, the Republic of Armenia is a party to the conflict that bears responsibility. Instead of this harmful rhetoric, the negotiating process should be intensified in the existing format to achieve the goal," Hajiyev said.