The latest statements from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev prompted the Armenian government to accuse Azerbaijan of planning to initiate another large-scale military attack on Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

During a summit of Turkic nations in Turkey on March 16, Azerbaijani President stated that Armenia should be held accountable for its refusal to provide Azerbaijan with an exterritorial land corridor to the Nakhichevan exclave. Aliyev demanded that Yerevan allow the return of Azerbaijanis displaced from Soviet Armenia during the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in 1988. He referred to them as the people of ‘western Azerbaijan.' 

The Armenian Foreign Ministry released a statement later in the day, stating that President Aliyev's comments could be interpreted as territorial claims against Armenia.

“The bellicose rhetoric of the leader of Azerbaijan is aimed at completely disrupting the efforts to establish stability in the South Caucasus and resorting to the use of large-scale force against both the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh,” it claimed. 

On March 18, another statement was issued by the Armenian Foreign Ministry in response to the statements delivered by Aliyev in Talish village of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was depopulated as a result of the 44-day war. 

The MFA accused the Azerbaijani authorities of engaging in illegal resettlement and terrorizing Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, which it believes is a deliberate attempt to make it impossible to implement the provisions of the trilateral statement. 

“In the current situation, it is necessary to launch the international mechanisms for the prevention of genocides, send an international fact-finding mission to the Lachin corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as to directly condemn Azerbaijan’s aggressive actions and policies. At the same time, the Republic of Armenia expresses its confidence in the peace agenda based on the trilateral statements of November 9, 2020, January 11, 2021, October 31, 2022, and the quadrilateral statement of October 6, 2022,” the statement concluded. 

The Armenian government previously accused Azerbaijan of preparing for another military attack on Nagorno-Karabakh after a shooting on March 5 near Stepanakert, during which three Karabakh police officers and two Azerbaijani soldiers were killed.

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