Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan has responded to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's recent tirade against Armenia, in which Aliyev claimed Yerevan was preparing for war against Baku.

Naghdalyan said both Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) authorities have received the mandate of their peoples and are ready to launch a dialogue with the authorities of Azerbaijan that enjoy the relevant mandate of their people.

"Ilham Aliyev, who inherited the power from his father and who shares it within a single family, is not such a leader," the spokeswoman said.

"Under the rule of Ilham Aliyev Azerbaijan missed the historic opportunity to use the “oil boom” to build a modern country and society. Today the authorities of Azerbaijan are perceived in the world as an authoritarian and repressive regime which uses all the opportunities, including the Covid-19 pandemic, to harass and silence its own people.

"In the region, we deal with such a governmental system where the values are replaced with a cult of personality, dynasty and own wealth, while the interests serve the preservation of inherited power at all costs. Regrettably, “all costs” are paid by the people of Azerbaijan deprived of voice and freedoms."