July 14, 2021 - 13:09 AMT
Foreign Ministry summons top foreign diplomats in Armenia

The heads of the diplomatic missions accredited in Armenia have been invited to the Foreign Ministry with regard to the participation of the diplomatic representatives of some countries in a propaganda trip organized by the Azerbaijani authorities to the occupied territories of Nagorno-Karabakh on July 9-10.

According to a statement from the Foreign Ministry, the ambassadors have been handed note verbales addressed to their governments, wherein it was stated that Armenia considers utterly unacceptable the visit of diplomatic representatives accredited in Azerbaijan to the occupied territories of Artsakh, including Hadrut and the historical center of Artsakh – Shushi – regions which were ethnically cleansed and their population was a subject of war crimes and other mass atrocities committed by Azerbaijani armed forces during the recent aggression. It was emphasized that by arranging such events the Azerbaijani authorities are trying to legitimize the aggression against the people of Artsakh and to strengthen their own claims of having resolved the conflict by force.

"During all the meetings, it has been underlined that the involvement of diplomatic representatives in such visits contradicts the spirit of cooperation between Armenia and those countries, as well as to the position of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship. In this regard, Armenia strongly calls for refraining from any actions that may justify the use of force and thereby undermine regional peace and security," the statement reads.

"The use of force and mass atrocities cannot settle the Karabakh conflict and the resolution of the conflict can be achieved only through negotiations under the auspices of the only internationally mandated format- the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs."

The ambassadors of the United States, France and Russia rejected the invitation of the Azerbaijani government to visit the Nagorno-Karabakh city of Shushi, which came under Baku's control during the 44-day war in fall 2020. Ambassadors of 46 countries, however, did accept the invitation and were pictured taking selfies near the iconic Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, which was targeted by Azerbaijan's precision guided missiles twice within an hour.