Azer Allahveranov: Zatulin is distorting facts on Karabakh

Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin has once again attempted to distort facts related to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, Azerbaijani lawmaker Azer Allahveranov said.

In comments to Report, Allahveranov criticized an article by Zatulin published in Moskovsky Komsomolets, describing it as misleading.

"In his piece devoted to the visit of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Moscow, Zatulin once again presented wishful thinking as reality," Allahveranov said, accusing him of deliberately misinforming readers and attempting to falsify facts about the recent history of the Armenia-Azerbaijan confrontation.

He said the long-standing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia was resolved following the 44-day war in November 2020 that erupted as a result of continued military provocations by Armenia.

According to Allahveranov, Armenia's political leadership, encouraged by the outcome of the First Karabakh War, had for years put forward territorial claims against Azerbaijan, backed by aggressive rhetoric and actions. He added that Pashinyan, under internal and external pressure, escalated tensions in July 2020 in the Tovuz direction and later along the entire line of contact in September.

According to the lawmaker, thanks to the courage of the Azerbaijani soldier, the aggressor suffered a crushing defeat and signed a trilateral statement, assuming defeatist obligations, some of which, as he noted, the Armenian side has still not fulfilled voluntarily.

"This led to the events of September 2023, as a result of which the sovereignty of the Republic of Azerbaijan was fully restored. All of this happened by the will of the Azerbaijani people and the wise policy of President Ilham Aliyev, which, in essence, neutralized the efforts of those regional forces that, for the sake of their mercenary interests, tried to keep the entire South Caucasus under pressure through the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict," he said.

Commenting on the data on the number of the Armenian population in Karabakh cited by Zatulin, Allahveranov stated that the Russian lawmaker ignores official information from the Russian Ministry of Defense and reports of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

According to him, after the 44-day war, the number of Armenians living in the Karabakh economic region was several times lower than what Zatulin claims, and this, as the parliamentarian noted, is reflected in reports of the Russian peacekeeping contingent.

He also stressed that the Armenian population left Karabakh voluntarily, which is recorded in many reports of international organizations.

Speaking about the peaceful rhetoric of Armenia's prime minister voiced during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Allahveranov noted that Yerevan"s statements about peace are now receiving support from the international community.

"Yes, Armenia's rhetoric is quite peaceful, and it is no secret that it is openly supported today by the progressive part of humanity. And President of Russia Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken positively about the peace process between the two countries. But it turns out that both Konstantin Zatulin and similar representatives of various political circles are once again not averse to muddying the waters of Armenia"s socio-political life, and to do so on the eve of parliamentary elections that are fateful for the country," the lawmaker said.