Yerevan will not allow any party to “put an equals sign” between the victim of war crimes, i.e. Armenia, and the perpetrator of said war crimes, i.e. Azerbaijan, Yerevan’s Ambassador-at-Large Edmon Marukyan said on Monday, October 3.

Marukyan’s comments came after Toivo Klaar, the EU special representative for the crisis in South Caucasus and Georgia, alleged that both Armenian and Azerbaijani troops committed war crimes during Baku’s latest unprovoked attack in mid-September. However, in footage published online over the weekend, Azerbaijani troops are seen murdering a number of unarmed Armenian prisoners of war.

Marukyan said Klaar’s remarks “put an equals sign” between the victim and the perpetrator

“Moreover, trying to compare any incident during a full-scale war with an obvious war crime committed against unarmed soldiers and de facto POWs during the discussion of the text of a peace treaty simply does not fit into any logic,” the Ambassador-at-Large said on social media.

“We will not allow putting a sign of equality between the victim and the perpetrator of war crimes.”

The latest round of fighting between the two countries began in the wee hours of September 13, when the Azerbaijani military attacked Armenian posts and shelled Armenian settlements both on the border and deep behind the frontline. More than 200 people are dead or missing as a result, the Security Council of Armenia said on Monday.