The Armenian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the fact that Azerbaijan declared Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan, outgoing Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan internationally wanted, calling it fabricated and dictated by anti-Armenian considerations.
The announcement particularly says:
“Recently, it was reported that the Azerbaijani authorities have initiated criminal prosecution and issued an international arrest warrant against the President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan, the former Presidents of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan.
We strongly condemn the criminal prosecutions of Azerbaijan based on false and Armenophobic grounds, as well as such abuse of the procedures of international law enforcement.
Instead of undertaking efforts towards detecting the persons involved in the extrajudicial killings of civilians in Artsakh and in the forcible disappearances of Armenian prisoners of war, or revealing criminal networks of transfers of terrorist fighters to the region, Azerbaijan pursues its years long policy of Armenophobia with new momentum, attempting to provoke further escalations in Nagorno-Karabakh and on the Armenia-Azerbaijan bordering areas.
We urge Azerbaijan to undertake steps towards finding constructive solutions, protecting the rights and welfare of all the peoples of the region.
At the same time, we reaffirm the commitment of the Republic of Armenia to undertake efforts for the establishment of peaceful coexistence and mutual tolerance in the region.”
