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AZERBAIJAN CLAIMS 'ARMENIAN TERROR THREAT' TO DIPLOMATS
Agence France Presse
September 13, 2012 Thursday 4:08 PM GMT
Azerbaijan alleged Thursday that a revived version of a long-dormant
Armenian "terrorist" group had vowed to kill its diplomats abroad
amid a new upsurge of tensions between the ex-Soviet foes.
The Azerbaijani foreign ministry said its embassies around the world
had received threatening letters from a group calling itself the New
Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia.
"This letter yet again points to the fact that the Armenian side as
always prefers the terrorist method of resolving issues," foreign
ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev told a news conference.
"They are openly threatening us with terrorism," he said.
The militant group had staged attacks on Turkish targets in the 1970s
and 1980s with the aim of forcing Ankara to recognise the mass killings
of Armenians during World War I as genocide and ceding western regions
of Turkey to Yerevan.
Its most notorious strikes were a bombing of a Turkish Airlines
check-in desk at Paris's Orly airport in 1983 that killed eight people
and a bomb-and-gun attack at Ankara's Esenboga Airport in 1982 that
left nine dead.
In a statement on Tuesday, the apparently dormant group -- which has
shown no sign of resuming militant activity -- denied any intention
of threatening Azerbaijanis.
"As an organisation, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of
Armenia has never engaged into any activity concerning the colonial
and expansionist policy of Azerbaijan, and consequently we deny such
misleading, fake news and declarations in our name," the statement
said.
Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a bitter long-running conflict
over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, where they fought a
war in the 1990s.
Tensions soared between the ex-Soviet foes when Azerbaijan pardoned
and promoted soldier Ramil Safarov after he was extradited last month
from Hungary where he had been serving a life sentence for hacking
an Armenian officer to death during a NATO training course in 2004.
Armenia-backed separatists seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan
during the war that left some 30,000 people dead.
But despite years of negotiations since a 1994 ceasefire, the two
sides have not yet signed a final peace deal and there are frequent
gun battles along the frontline.
Agence France Presse
September 13, 2012 Thursday 4:08 PM GMT
Azerbaijan alleged Thursday that a revived version of a long-dormant
Armenian "terrorist" group had vowed to kill its diplomats abroad
amid a new upsurge of tensions between the ex-Soviet foes.
The Azerbaijani foreign ministry said its embassies around the world
had received threatening letters from a group calling itself the New
Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia.
"This letter yet again points to the fact that the Armenian side as
always prefers the terrorist method of resolving issues," foreign
ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev told a news conference.
"They are openly threatening us with terrorism," he said.
The militant group had staged attacks on Turkish targets in the 1970s
and 1980s with the aim of forcing Ankara to recognise the mass killings
of Armenians during World War I as genocide and ceding western regions
of Turkey to Yerevan.
Its most notorious strikes were a bombing of a Turkish Airlines
check-in desk at Paris's Orly airport in 1983 that killed eight people
and a bomb-and-gun attack at Ankara's Esenboga Airport in 1982 that
left nine dead.
In a statement on Tuesday, the apparently dormant group -- which has
shown no sign of resuming militant activity -- denied any intention
of threatening Azerbaijanis.
"As an organisation, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of
Armenia has never engaged into any activity concerning the colonial
and expansionist policy of Azerbaijan, and consequently we deny such
misleading, fake news and declarations in our name," the statement
said.
Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a bitter long-running conflict
over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh, where they fought a
war in the 1990s.
Tensions soared between the ex-Soviet foes when Azerbaijan pardoned
and promoted soldier Ramil Safarov after he was extradited last month
from Hungary where he had been serving a life sentence for hacking
an Armenian officer to death during a NATO training course in 2004.
Armenia-backed separatists seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan
during the war that left some 30,000 people dead.
But despite years of negotiations since a 1994 ceasefire, the two
sides have not yet signed a final peace deal and there are frequent
gun battles along the frontline.