Politics

‘Institute for Economics and Peace sends wrong message to Yerevan’

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement voiced on August 5, 2019, during the visit to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan – Nagorno-Karabakh is nothing more than the declaration of the annexation of the area of a neighboring country in violation of four resolutions of the UN Security Council (822,853, 874, 884).

Chairman of the Center of Analysis of International Relations, Dr. Farid Shafiyev, made the remarks.

“I wonder whether the authors of the report are aware that Armenia not only continues the occupation of Azerbaijani internationally recognized territories but during 2019 for which CSM ranked the country “the most peaceful,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and other cabinet members used highly controversial belligerent rhetoric which was jettisoned by the Co-Chairs of OSCE Minsk Group (France, Russia and the US) dealing with the peaceful resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict,” Shafiyev said.

“It is worth recalling that one of Pashinyan’s first moves in his official position was to send his son to serve in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and it can hardly be seen as a gesture of peace. Armenia’s Minister of Defence David Tonoyan, speaking to the Armenian diaspora in New York on March 30, 2019, declared a new “defense” concept – “new war for new territories,” which unlikely meet the criteria of a peace message. The list can continue up until the recent highly provocative visit of Prime Minister Pashinyan to historic Azerbaijani city of Shusha on May 21, 2020, to participate in so-called inauguration in the aftermath of illegal elections condemned by the international community,” the expert stressed.

“The only positive development during 2019 – the reduction of casualties on the line of contact happened due to Azerbaijan’s decision to decrease tension following the Minsk Group Co-chairs’ call. It is also relevant to remind that twice during 2019 in the threshold of peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan on May 30 and September 20, Azerbaijani servicemen were shot dead on the line of contact by Armenian armed forces.”

“The decision of the Institute of Economics and Peace to upgrade Armenia for its “peacefulness” in Global Peace Index is unfortunate and send a wrong message to Yerevan,” he added.

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