BAKU. May 30 (Interfax) - The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan has rejected the Armenian Foreign Ministry's statement made in response to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's May 28 speech in the Lachin region and views the Armenian Foreign Ministry's reaction as groundless and its statement as biased.
"The deliberate misrepresentation by the Foreign Ministry of Armenia of the Azerbaijani president's calls for respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty, the unacceptability of interference in Azerbaijan's internal affairs and the resolute prevention of steps that condone separatism in the region shows that the Foreign Ministry of Armenia is not drawing any lessons from history," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry sees as unsubstantiated claims by Armenia, which "has banished the entire Azerbaijani population not only from the occupied Azerbaijani territories but also from Armenia", that Azerbaijan intends to conduct an "ethnic cleansing" of Armenians who live in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
"On the contrary, Azerbaijan intends to take all necessary steps to reintegrate local Armenian residents," it said.
"Suppressing encroachments on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is a sovereign right of Azerbaijan and is in line with the norms and principles of international law," the ministry said.
"Armenia's steps that are at odds with that and meddling in Azerbaijan's efforts to engage in a dialogue with Armenian residents are interference in our country's internal affairs and run counter to Armenia's pretentious statements about 'support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty [of Azerbaijan]'," the ministry said.
"The striving for peace and stability in the region is measured in real steps rather than in fake appeals and promises," it said.
"Therefore, it would be good if the Armenian side, instead of hindering peace efforts and making false statements, respected the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country, including the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, in fact, not in words," the ministry said.
On May 28, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that representatives of the Armenian minority in Nagorno-Karabakh had twice refused to engage in a dialogue in Baku, and there would be no third offer.
"My representative went and had the first meeting with them, after which we invited them to Baku for dialogue. They refused. After that, we invited them to Baku for the second time. They refused this as well. There will be no third invitation. Either they will come with their heads bowed, or events will develop differently," Aliyev said.
Representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh could be 'amnestied' only if they voluntarily leave their pseudo-posts and apply for Azerbaijani citizenship, he said.
"And we will still consider it. My word is final, everyone knows that, in Azerbaijan and in the world, including in Armenia. We do what we say. None of our words hang in the air, like they say, and this word will not hang in the air. If I say an amnesty can be considered, they should use this opportunity. They have lost a lot of opportunities, and every time, like they say, we had to hit them on the head to bring them to their senses," Aliyev said.
On May 29, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said that "the recognition of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity cannot be interpreted as the right to conduct an ethnic cleansing of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh."
"Armenia draws the attention of the international community to the fact that by his statement, the Azerbaijani president is setting the stage for further aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and depriving them of the right to live freely, safely and decently in its homeland," the ministry said.
"Not only does [the Azerbaijani president] threaten Nagorno-Karabakh's population with genocide, he also calls into question the independence and territorial integrity of Armenia," it said.