Armenian Ambassador in Czech Republic Responds to Azerbaijani Ambassador

The Serbian newspaper "Danas" has published a comment from the Armenian Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Ashot Hovakimyan, in which he responds to the Azerbaijani ambassador. "Armenpress" presents an unofficial translation of the commentary.

"...This is the tent of Hasan-aga, He suffers from terrible wounds..." from the epic song "Hasanaginitsa".

Ambassador Hasanov published a nervous statement regarding my comments to Radio Free Europe about Armenia's defense industry cooperation. I have nothing to add to that comment. Azerbaijan is the last country that has the right to voice any violations, as its entire activity in that domain is a universal violation, which can easily be verified from reliable sources.

It seems that in this case, Hasanov was excessively affected by his president's harsh criticism directed at the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and its ambassadors for being inactive and only enjoying themselves. Thus, he decided to "show himself," broadly stepping out of the context of my interview commentary and falling into the vortex of anti-Armenian propaganda, so familiar to him.

Azerbaijani officials consistently approach the resolutions of various international organizations selectively, presenting them not in their entirety but isolating parts from their context or simply faking them, just to provide truth-like "evidence." The same applies in this case. The UN Security Council resolutions were adopted around 30 years ago, during a hot period of conflict. At that time, they had a relevant nature, serving as attempts to establish a ceasefire, after which Azerbaijan was immediately launching yet another assault against the right of the people of Artsakh to live freely in their homeland.

By accusing Armenia, Azerbaijan hides the fact that these resolutions were primarily directed at it, as it absolutely did not comply with any of their provisions, especially the most essential one: the cessation of fire.

In the resolutions from July 29, 1993, and other UN Security Council resolutions, there is only one call directed at Armenia: to continue exercising its influence over the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, one of the parties to the conflict. That means the resolution clearly states that the parties to the conflict are Azerbaijan and Artsakh, against which Azerbaijan committed aggression.

I could even welcome Hasanov's claim that "Azerbaijan continues to see the solution of the conflict through negotiations conducted with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group," if it did not contradict the accusations directed at the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group by his own president Aliyev and the threats to cancel negotiations.

I leave aside Hasanov's other absurd accusations against Armenia, including his favorite theme regarding the mythical "genocide" of Khojalu.

Hasanov is in deep mourning, as Azerbaijan, with a declaration on strategic relations with Serbia, watches in disappointment the supplies of weapons from Serbia to Armenia, as friends do not sell arms to the enemies of their friends, demanding to stop such transactions.

The question arises: what to do with the multibillion-dollar weapons sent to Azerbaijan by different countries over the years? Perhaps Azerbaijanis should gather them and return them to Serbia? Or do Hasanov and his followers believe that killing Armenian youth and bombing the civilian population is justified?

I do not question the right of Serbia to establish friendly relations and strategic partnership with Azerbaijan. However, does that exclude friendly ties with Armenia, the development of economic relations, and the implementation of joint projects? Is it directed against Armenia?

Should Azerbaijan dictate the contents of Armenia-Serbia relations or blackmail Serbia on issues like not recognizing Kosovo, as Hasanov and some pro-Azerbaijani analysts and politicians always do in their statements? Armenia also did not recognize Kosovo. Should Azerbaijan's one vote be more valuable than Armenia's one vote in the voting processes on the Kosovo issue in international organizations, or is Azerbaijan's abstention from voting more beneficial than Armenia's positive vote?

Hasanov's words about Armenia's defeat are ridiculous. He has been taught to present desire as reality, and he cannot accept that his country has deep-rooted problems with pervasive hatred towards Armenians, threats to resolve the conflict by force (even bombing the Armenian nuclear power plant), consolidating a personal dictatorship at the expense of numerous human and material losses, and jeopardizing regional stability along with Turkey.

In his preaching of hatred and fanaticism, Hasanov reminds me of the cruel Hasan-aga from the poem "Hasanaginitsa" (a splendid example of the popular epic created during the period of Turkish despotism in the Balkans, translated into many languages), who, with his intolerance and vanity, only brought tragedy to his relatives, his people, and peace.