The representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan engaged in vigorous verbal exchanges in Istanbul, where they participated on Monday (May 22nd) in the special summit organized for the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) . The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh was, of course, at the heart of these unfriendly exchanges, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not fail to say who he was taking part in, expressing barely veiled objections to the speech delivered by the vice – Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The representatives of a dozen member countries of this organization, created at the initiative of Turkey, including Armenia, spoke at the opening ceremony of this summit.

According to the Turkish news agency Dogan, in a clear allusion to Armenia, Azerbaijani Parliament President Oktay Asadov said in his speech that “one of the members of the organization did not want to give up its toxic ideology and Continues to demonstrate intolerance and aggression. This ideology of Armenia makes it a mono-ethnic country and deprives the country and the region of opportunities for development. Armenia is unaware of the rule of law and the four UN Security Council resolutions that require the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territories. Therefore, I would like to assure everyone that the primitive thinking of the Armenian leadership that the use of force could promote good neighborly relations is a sick imaginary. Azerbaijan will undoubtedly restore its territorial integrity in accordance with the norms of international law. “ Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Ashot Hovakimian, responding to provocations by the representative of Azerbaijan, said that “the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization is not the place to make such accusations.”

The host of the ceremony, Turkish President Erdogan, for his part, would have given reason in a sense to the statement of the representative of Armenia, while addressing him the words: “No representative has here expressed any accusation. It is you who have oriented your remarks completely in a political sense. “ According to the official website of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Mr Hovakimian, in his speech at the BSEC summit, criticized Azerbaijan for its bellicose policy and its attempts to torpedo the peace efforts of Armenia and Mediators in the process of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The accusations, the rhetoric of war and the unilateral maximalist demands can not in any way contribute to the resolution of the conflict. It would be possible to make progress on a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict if Azerbaijan abandoned its policy of using force and sincerely engaged in negotiations in the format recognized by the Minsk Group of the ” OSCE, “the Armenian diplomat said. The Armenian Ministry reported that the Istanbul BSEC summit adopted a declaration on the occasion of the 25th anniversary by reaffirming on this occasion the strictly economic vocation of this organization.