Fuad Huseynaliyev: Pashinyan’s statements about 'ethnic cleansing' - echo of messages from his European patrons

When speaking in the European Parliament about the alleged “ethnic cleansing” in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was actually echoing the messages of his European patrons, Director of the Report News Agency Fuad Huseynaliyev said in an interview with ARB 24 TV.

According to him, in general, Pashinyan’s speech indicates that today Armenia is more ready for peace than ever:

"The primary reason for this is that Azerbaijan completely restored its sovereignty throughout its entire territory after the anti-terrorist measures carried out on September 19-20. After this, the Armenians, under pressure from the separatists, left the Karabakh economic zone. While earlier the Armenian side raised the topic of getting some kind of status for the Armenians living in Karabakh, now they have abandoned these illusions."

Huseynaliyev emphasized that Azerbaijan has fully restored its sovereignty and territorial integrity and Armenia no longer has any excuses to evade signing the peace treaty.

"I believe that the speech of the Prime Minister of Armenia [in the European Parliament] is more in line with current realities. However, the influence of France and other external forces on Armenia cannot be ignored. They are trying in every possible way to delay the issue and prevent the establishment of peace and cooperation," Huseynaliyev said.

The director of the agency emphasized that Armenia is turning into an arena for the struggle of global forces. Naturally, the Azerbaijani side sees all this and takes note, he said.

"I would like to believe that Pashinyan is a supporter of the peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan. Most of the forces influencing the Armenian Prime Minister are concentrated in Europe. In this regard, speaking about the alleged 'ethnic cleansing', Pashinyan was actually voicing the messages of his European patrons. However, I believe that all these statements will not yield any results. Because today it is Armenia who needs the peace treaty most of all,” Huseynaliyev said.

According to Huseynaliyev, the European Parliament is the most biased body of the European Union towards Azerbaijan, and in this regard, the head of the Armenian government could not speak there about unconditional peace with Azerbaijan.

"By making unfounded accusations of 'ethnic cleansing,' Pashinyan may have planned to benefit from processes that may take place in the future. He stated that more than 100,000 people left for Armenia. In my opinion, such rhetoric is designed, among other things, to receive financial assistance from Europe, since Armenia is an economically weak country. It is also noteworthy that Armenia has already received assistance under this pretext, while Azerbaijan, with 1 million refugees, has not received even 10 percent of the assistance provided to Armenia. When it comes to Armenia, European countries react very quickly. By doing so, they are trying to lay the foundation for possible pressure on Azerbaijan in the future. I am sure that the Azerbaijani state and President Ilham Aliyev have calculated everything in advance,” he said.