Armenia’s Foreign Ministry Removed ‘Nagorno-Karabakh’ Sections from Website

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry removed a section called “Nagorno-Karabakh Issue” from its website, coinciding with a top Azerbaijani official complaining about the “language” used on the website, which has been deemed unacceptable by Baku.

While the section entitled “Nagorno-Karabakh” still appears on the Foreign Ministry’s website under the foreign policy heading, the “Nagorno-Karabakh Issue” subsection is removed in all languages — Armenian, English, French and Russian.

The foreign ministry has also removed a section that included reports by the Artsakh Human Rights Defender’s office.

Elchin Amirbayov, Azerbaijan’s senior envoy for special assignments who has been closely involved in the negotiations, had told RFE/RL’s Joshua Kucera that in addition to Armenia’s Constitution, there are several other instances where Armenia’s claim on Artsakh appear in formal statements and legislation.

Amirbayov specifically called attention to the language on the Armenian Foreign Ministry website saying that Nagorno-Karabakh is “an integral part of historic Armenia,” and recent Armenian filings in the European Court of Human Rights that imply a claim on Azerbaijan.

He also said, when Armenia’s legislature ratified the 1991 Alma Ata accords, which accepted Soviet republic borders as the borders of the newly independent states, lawmakers added language saying that it did not apply to Artsakh.

“We have pointed the attention of the Armenian side to those facts many times, during our [in-person] negotiations, but also through different exchanges of comments,” Amirbayov said. “And the Armenian side acknowledges that this is the fact, but nothing is being done…”

“When they try to cheat, if I may use the word, if they try to put all the blame and the responsibility on our shoulders, and at the same time in the back of their minds still having these territorial claims against us, it’s not going to work,” the Azerbaijani official added.