The government of Artsakh on Thursday blasted President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan for further sowing hatred toward Armenians and his statements claiming on Artsakh that were deemed “fake.”

Artsakh State Minister Artak Beglaryan took to social media to refute claims Aliyev made this week during a government session in Baku, where he reiterated the claim that the Karabakh conflict ended with Azerbaijan’s aggressive attack on Artsakh in 2020. The Azerbaijani leader also added that signals from Yerevan indicated that Karabakh would fall under Azerbaijani control as discussions of a status effectively have paused.

Aliyev also claimed that Artsakh forces were targeting Azerbaijani positions in Aghdam, forcing Baku to order the invasion of the Parukh village in Artsakh’s Askeran region and advancing Azerbaijani forces onto the strategic Karaglukh Heights.

Beglaryan said that any status for Artsakh within Azerbaijan is unacceptable.

“Despite Aliyev’s statement, the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict has not been settled, and it should be done with support of the international community, primarily through the unconditional and unfettered realization of right to self-determination of the Artsakh people,” Beglaryan said.

“In addition to sufficient legal and historical basis, the genocidal policy against Armenians and systemic policy of Armenophobia by Azerbaijan, especially in the recent 34 years, are additional reasons to say that Artsakh cannot be a part of Azerbaijan with any status,” added Beglaryan.

“The armed forces of Artsakh have never shot at the direction of Khachen reservoir and Akna (Aghdam) from Parukh and Karaglukh, and if Aliyev has contrary evidence, he can publish it. During weeks preceding the invasion of Parukh, Azerbaijan was resorting to provocations, shooting from mortars in the direction of the civilian population,” the State Minister added.

He further stated that the deliberate disruption and delayed restoration of natural gas supplies to Artsakh cannot be seen as an “expression of goodwill,” as Aliyev phrased it in his remarks this week.