Armenia Slams Israeli FM Over Presence at Khojaly Event

YEREVAN (Armenianow) — Official Yerevan finds it inappropriate that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has attended an event organized by Azerbaijan as part of its campaign on the so-called “Khojaly genocide”.

Lieberman, a Soviet-born Israeli politician who also serves as Israel’s deputy prime minister today, was on a delegation that also included a Knesset member that reportedly attended on February 26 an event marking the 23rd anniversary of what Azerbaijan presents as a massacre of civilians by Armenian forces in the town of Khajaly in Karabakh.

The Armenian side blames civilian deaths among Azeris during the Khojaly operation on the Azerbaijani military, saying that they did not allow the civilian population to be evacuated despite the presence of a humanitarian corridor.

Asked by the Armenpress news agency about how Yerevan assesses the presence of the top Israeli diplomat, as part of the electoral campaign, at the kind of event organized by the Azerbaijani propaganda, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said: “It is inappropriate that any politician could allow himself to be dragged in the Azerbaijani cheap manipulations.”