Armenian Foreign Ministry Issues Statement

On September 19, Azerbaijan launched another large-scale aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, aiming to complete its policy of ethnic cleansing. This was reported by the Armenian Foreign Ministry.

With a sense of impunity, Azerbaijan has openly assumed responsibility for the aggression. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense announced that it is starting "counter-terrorism measures" in Nagorno-Karabakh, within the responsibility zone of the Russian peacekeeping forces, and that the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent and the Russian-Turkish monitoring center have been informed according to the official Azerbaijan statement.

We strongly condemn the aggression by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh and the mass atrocities that mark a continuation of the large-scale use of force unleashed by Azerbaijan against the region just three years ago in September 2020. Under the false pretext of “destruction of military targets,” Azerbaijan is shelling civilian settlements, including the city of Stepanakert and other towns and villages.

The Armenian side has repeatedly warned that Azerbaijan’s ongoing aggressive actions against Nagorno-Karabakh, its overtly bellicose rhetoric, and the absolutely false and condemnable propaganda labeling the inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh as “terrorists” serve a single purpose: to ethnically cleanse the population of Nagorno-Karabakh through the use of force, depriving them of their right to live freely and with dignity in their homeland. The illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor, the only route connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia since December 2020, aims to achieve the same goal.

The attack was preceded by the dissemination of false information by Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry regarding mine-laying and diversionary actions, indicating the planning of the assault and the securing of the informational field. We again declare that the armed forces and military equipment of the Republic of Armenia are not located in Nagorno-Karabakh, and all reports regarding mine-laying and diversionary acts are false and fabricated.

We call on international partners, particularly the members of the UN Security Council who have a primary obligation to maintain international peace and security, to take clear and unequivocal steps to put an end to Azerbaijan’s aggression based on the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, signed by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, concerning the Russian peacekeeping contingent deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh.