YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS. Former Azerbaijani president Ayaz Mutallibov has long sold his soul to the dictatorial regime of Baku for being allowed to return to the country, Armenian foreign ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said in response to ARMENPRESS request to comment on the former president’s interview to Azeri media regarding President Sargsyan’s recent statement.

“Mutallibov has long sold both his soul and biography to the dictatorial regime of Baku for the permission to return to Azerbaijan. And this angry response in Seidov’s [Azeri delegate to PACE] yesterday style was from the series of reaffirming his commitment to the regime. With the same logic he might announce tomorrow that the real goal behind his resignation was to vacate the president’s seat for Heydar Aliyev”, Balayan said.

After President Sargsyan’s speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Azerbaijani delegate addressed a distorting question in a rather aggressive manner. The President urged the delegate to calm down and not to distort facts. In response to the Azeri delegate’s question as to why he didn’t touch upon the Khojaly events, the Armenian President said:  “The answer to the question why I did not touch upon the Khojaly events, which you call a genocide, is very clear – because immediately after that tragic event President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ayaz Mutalibov presented very detailed and informed facts and indicated who were the organizers of that massacre. And I feel very sorry for that. Genocide is not a good thing, being subjected to genocide is a torment and I think there is a tendency in Azerbaijan to have anything Armenians have. This is inadmissible. Why do you need to call something a genocide that has never happened, especially not by Armenians.”