Shavarsh Kocharyan: Baku's accusations against Yerevan are an attempt to distract attention from its ties with terrorists

Baku's accusations against Yerevan are nothing more than a vain attempt to distract attention from its direct ties with various terrorist groups, Armenia's Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan told in an interview to the RFE/Radio Liberty, commenting on the Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev's statement at the G20 summit in Turkey. 

"It is absurd and amoral, that Azerbaijan's president tries to accuse Armenia during his visit to Turkey right after the terror attacks in Paris. This is a vain attempt to distract attention from the direct ties traditionally existing between Azerbaijan and various terrorist groups", he noted. 

According to the Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister, Azerbaijan involved in an aggression initiated against the self-determined Nagorno-Karabakh Republic hundreds of gunmen headed by the well-known terrorist Shamil Basayev, as well as around three thousand contractors from Afghanistan, including groups headed by another well-known terrorist Khattab. Besides, Kocharyan recalled that the international reports had recorded that a representative office of the famous terrorist group al-Qaeda was operating in Baku in 1995.  The diplomat also noted that after the US Embassy was exploded in Nairobi in 1998 the United States Secret Service recorded nearly 60 phone calls made by Bin Laden to Baku. 

"UN Security Council in its statement from November 25, 2002 noted al-Qaeda's presence in Baku, the Congress and US Department of State's reports also noted that Azerbaijan serves as a support and transfer point for the international terrorist groups. Besides hundreds of Azerbaijani citizens are actively involved in the activities of the groups, that conduct terrorist actions in Syria and Iraq, including the Islamic State terrorist network, which took the responsibility over the horrific terror attacks in Paris. What else can we expect from a leader, who makes maniac-killers heroes and considers a whole nation as his number one enemy?" he noted. 

To note, yesterday Azerbaijan's president Ilham Aliyev, making a speech at one of the events of the G20 summit, accused Armenia in terrorism and occupation of Azerbaijani lands.