Armenia condemns Azerbaijan's religious stance on Karabakh – parliament official

Armenia's parliament vice speaker condemned the Azerbaijani authorities' attempts to give a religious context to the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict as he met with a top Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) official in St Petersburg.

Briefing Piotr Ryabukhin, Secretary-in-Charge of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, on the military-political situation in the South Caucasis, Eduard Sharmazanov highlighted the major threats stemming from the Azerbaijani authorities' policy of hatred and intolerance, reports the National Assembly's press service.

“Azerbaijan's leadership has for many years been openly propagating Armenophobia in an attempt to impart religious motives to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We condemn the Azerbaijani authorities' policy of racism, considering impermissible the attempts to add a religious element to the problem. This problem must be resolved only through peaceful negotiations, having as a core value the full exercise of the Artsakh people's right to self-determination,” he said.