Question: Mr. Kocharian Baku declares that the president of Azerbaijan was out of the country during the escalation of tensions along the Line of Contact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan and along the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and hence the Azerbaijani side could not have organized a subversive act. How would you comment this?

Answer: Who on earth said that the order was given on the day when subversive actions were carried out? Moreover, everything indicates that the Azerbaijani side was preparing for those actions well before. At the end of the day, the order can also be issued while being abroad.

The president’s Administration is well aware that with such a statement in reference to the absence of the president from the country it is simply impossible to disprove the obvious fact for the international community about the initiation of the escalation by the very Azerbaijani side. However, the statement is made and is made in continuation to the policy of distracting their own people.

Therefore, in relation to the failure of the preplanned subversive actions and the PR campaign aimed at improving the ratings of the president of Azerbaijan, his administration made a straightforward statement that the president has nothing to do with it, as he was abroad. To what extent should one not respect their own people to try to feed them with such a blatant lie.

It is possible to avoid such situations and not be forced to find oneself outside of the county through simple means- by ceasing the escalation of the situation and direct efforts to the negotiation process.