(Reuters) – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has accused neighbouring Armenia of posing a “fascist” threat that needs to be destroyed, in comments that Armenia’s leader called a possible attempt to justify fresh conflict.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s, when Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan that had a mostly Armenian population, broke away from Baku with Yerevan’s support.
In September 2023, Azerbaijan retook Karabakh, prompting almost all of the territory’s 100,000 Armenians to leave en masse to Armenia. Both sides have since said they want to sign a treaty to end the conflict.
But in an interview with Azerbaijani television channels on Tuesday night, Aliyev said: “Armenia is effectively a source of threat to the region. The independent Armenian state is essentially a fascist state. For nearly 30 years, this country was governed by bearers of fascist ideology, and they shaped the state in their own image.
“Therefore, fascism must be eradicated,” he added. “It will either be eradicated by Armenia’s leadership or by us. There is no other way.”
In comments to Armenian state news agency Armenpress, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Yerevan remained intent on peaceful negotiations.
“Perhaps Baku is attempting to form ‘legitimacy’ for escalation in the region,” Armenpress cited Pashinyan as saying.
Peace talks between the two sides have been fitful and progress has been slow. They have no formal diplomatic ties and their 1,000 km (620 miles) border remains closed and heavily militarised.
Azerbaijan has said that Armenia must change its constitution to remove what Baku says are claims to its territory before a treaty can be signed. Armenia says it makes no claim on Azerbaijani lands.
Aliyev said that his country wanted no return to war, but that Armenia, which is several times smaller than Azerbaijan in both population and area, was rearming for conflict.
The Azerbaijani president has previously suggested that parts of Armenia are rightfully Azerbaijani lands.
In the interview, Aliyev said that Azerbaijan would secure the Zangezur corridor, a route connecting the country’s mainland with its Nakhchivan exclave and close ally Turkey.
Armenia says it is not against unblocking transport routes across its territory, but must retain control of any such corridor.
(Reporting by Felix Light and Nailia Bagirova; Editing by Ros Russell)
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