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“It was Armenia who put forward the proposal to establish an environment conducive for negotiations, and the Armenian side cannot reject its own  proposal,” Armenian MFA Spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan stated on Friday, commenting on the Azerbaijan foreign ministry recent statement, claiming that Armenia intended to undermine the negotiation process and that the calls of the Armenian side for the establishment of an environment conducive to peace are false.

Speaking of accusations about killing a Azerbaijani soldier, Naghdalyan said: “Artsakh categorically denied the information on the killing of a soldier circulated by the Azerbaijani side, and it would have been appropriate for the Azerbaijani side to conduct an internal investigation and reveal the reality over the alleged incident  before issuing accusatory statements.”

“If the mechanisms for investigating ceasefire violations were in place, it would have been impossible to disseminate disinformation about ceasefire violations. Notably, it is the Azerbaijani side who resisted the establishment of that mechanism. In this context, we once again underscore the importance for the implementation of the agreements reached in 2016 in Vienna and St. Petersburg on the strengthening of the ceasefire regime, including the creation of investigative mechanisms,” the Armenian diplomat added.

In her words, Baku attempts to shift the blame for its counterproductive stance on Armenia and Artsakh.

As to the Azerbaijani comments about Armenians allegedly living in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan being a country of tolerance, Naghdalyan said: “Ironically, this claim is made by a representative of a country where not only Armenians but their names are banned on the jerseys of football fans.

Nowadays intolerance in Azerbaijan results from the impunity of the anti-Armenian pogroms committed in Sumgait, Baku and other cities, of the policy of hatred, which culminated in the glorification of Safarov, and 2016 April aggression of Azerbaijan against Artsakh accompanied by despicable atrocities.”