No:132/22, Head of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Leyla Abdullayeva answers the media's question regarding the Armenian Foreign Ministry's protest against the participation of the UN representative in the conference held in Shusha, Azerbaijan
Question: According to the information given by the Armenian Foreign Ministry, the UN representative in Armenia was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and was protested against the participation of the UN representative in the conference held in Shusha on March 18 of this year and dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Azerbaijan-UN partnership. We would like to know your comment on this.
Answer: The organization of any event in the sovereign territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the participation of international representatives in this event is not a matter of Armenia's competence. Armenia's interference in the internal affairs of another state is unfounded and unacceptable.
Armenia's still territorial claims against Azerbaijan show that this country has not drawn the right conclusions from the 44-day war. This position of the Armenian Foreign Ministry is nothing but an attempt of this country to obstruct peacekeeping efforts of Azerbaijan together with leading members of the international community in the region.
We bring to the attention of the Armenian Foreign Ministry that Shusha is the ancient territory of Azerbaijan. This city, the cradle of Azerbaijani culture, along with other territories, was liberated in 2020, and our territorial integrity was restored. The UN has never taken a neutral position on the former Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, but has supported Azerbaijan's territorial integrity in resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council. In this regard, it is not clear what "neutral status" the Armenian Foreign Ministry calls for.
In conclusion, we would like to reiterate that the sooner Armenia accepts the post-conflict realities in the region, the more useful it will be for this country.