The Foreign Ministry of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) on Wednesday, May 31 slammed remarks from a U․S․ State Department Spokesperson welcoming statements from the President of Azerbaijan on his readiness to “consider amnesty” for Karabakh officials.

According to a statement from the Karabakh Foreign Ministry, the reaction from the United States has caused deep “disappointment and bewilderment.”

“It is inexplicable how in this statement of the President of Azerbaijan, entirely built on open blackmail and coercion, one could find something positive that deserves encouragement. Obviously, the main message of the Azerbaijani president’s statement was the refusal of Azerbaijan from an equal dialogue with the democratically elected authorities of the Republic of Artsakh and the desire to impose their own authority on the people of Artsakh by force,” the statement said.

“We have no doubts about the efforts of the United States to play a positive role in achieving a just, balanced and dignified settlement of the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict and in establishing lasting peace in the region. At the same time, we believe that the encouragement of Baku's destructive and belligerent policy runs counter to the desire to achieve positive developments in the peaceful settlement of the conflict.”

The U.S. Department of State has welcomed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s recent remarks on “consideration of amnesty” for Karabakh officials. Aliyev recently made new threats against the people of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh). “Everyone is well aware that today we are capable of conducting any operation in this region (Artsakh - Ed.)," Aliyev said during a recent trip to Lachin. "Therefore, the Parliament must be dissolved, the element that calls themselves President must surrender, all ministers, deputies and others must leave their posts. Only in this case can we talk about any kind of amnesty."

The Armenian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said the United States should adequately respond to statements coming from Azerbaijan in order to prevent the expansionist policy of the Azerbaijani leadership towards the sovereign territory of Armenia and their attempts of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno Karabakh.