BAKU, June 25. /TASS/. Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry has demanded that Armenia stop hindering the process of the reintegration of Armenians into Azerbaijani society in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The Azerbaijani side is making effort to reintegrate the Armenian population, and it is necessary to put an end to Armenia’s interference under various pretexts into this process and to its creating obstacles to it in a destructive form," the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The Azerbaijani foreign ministry slammed Yerevan’s interpretation of the temporary suspension of the Lachin border checkpoint on the border between the two countries as "blockade and ethnic cleansing," describing such statements as "part of Armenia’s false propaganda." This measure, according to the ministry, is linked "with Azerbaijan’s security measures and a probe after Armenia’s provocation" in this area on June 15.
"Allegations about ‘humanitarian threats’ to Armenians living in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region are absolutely groundless. The refusal from Azerbaijan’s assistance, if necessary, to people calling themselves representatives of the Armenian population demonstrates that the Armenian side is using this matter in its own political goals," it stressed, adding that Armenia’s abusing the topic of the rights and security of Armenians in Karabakh is inadmissible.
On June 15, Azerbaijan’s State Border Service reported that an Azerbaijani border guard has been wounded in gunfire opened at the Lachin border checkpoint from the Armenian territory.