Hikmat Hajiyev: Armenia hiding wide spread of COVID-19 in Azerbaijan's occupied territories

By Trend

Armenia continues to spread lies regarding the spread of COVID-19 in Azerbaijan's territories that it holds under occupation, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev said.

Hajiyev made the remark at the briefing of the Operational Headquarters under the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers held on Aug. 29, Trend reports.

"Infection is rapidly spreading on the occupied territories and Armenia is completely hiding information about the spread of COVID-19 there," he said.

He added that residents of the occupied territories are citizens of Azerbaijan, and infections among them should be listed in the statistics of Azerbaijan.

"However, due to the fact of occupation, we cannot receive information about these infections, which, of course, is not reflected in the statistics of Azerbaijan," Hajiyev said. "We appealed to the WHO in connection with the fact that if the unrecognized government of the occupied territories tries to bring cases of infection into international statistics, then this should be prevented, and infection statistics should be reported as related to Azerbaijan. The responsibility for the current situation in the occupied territories rests with the leadership of Armenia," he said.

"As it’s known, recently, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan took part in the so-called "inauguration" ceremony in the occupied territories, in which no one used medical masks, which also contributed to infections in these territories. The massive infections also took place in the occupant Armenian army, also creating conditions for a wide spread of the epidemic," Hajiyev said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.