Azerbaijani MP Ganira Pashayeva harshly responded to the accusations of her Armenian counterpart Samvel Farmanyan against Azerbaijan over the recent escalation along the line of contact between the two countries during the discussion of “The Bureau’s development resolution” at the PACE session on Monday.

Pashayeva told participants that the Armenian MP’s accusations are nothing but slander and lie, local media's correspondent reported.

“I was going to make a different speech here. I was going to talk about the importance of intensified counter-terrorism actions, about what else could we do for intercultural dialogue to expand. But I now want to respond to the accusations made by Samvel Farmanyan, member of the Armenian delegation. I want to inform you of the realities,” she said. “I want to let you know of the cries of the mother of Turana Hasanli, a 16-year-old girl who was murdered by Armenian soldiers before the eyes of her mother, the family of Dadashov Garash who was murdered before the eyes of his son, and tens of Azerbaijani families whose members were wounded and killed, houses were destroyed.”

Earlier this month, Armenia violated the ceasefire, targeting Azerbaijani civilians and villages, killing a few Azerbaijani civilians, and destroying plenty of houses, Pashayeva recalled. “We have videos and photos to prove this. Sadly, Farmanyan, who made a speech here on behalf of the Armenian delegation, gave completely irrelevant explanations as to the Armenian army’s violation of the ceasefire, their crimes and murders, seeking to bewilder the international community,” she said.

The MP noted that on the night of April 2, 2016, Armenian armed forces stationed in the occupied Azerbaijani territories began to intensively shell all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan.

The recent armed clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan took place not on the border of the two states but in the Azerbaijani lands occupied by Armenia, according to Pashayeva.

She stressed that the Azerbaijani soldiers and servicemen who lost their lives during the armed clashes were protecting the civilian population of Azerbaijan and their native lands. “What were Armenian soldiers and servicemen doing there? Ask Farmanyan what their soldiers were doing in the Azerbaijani lands where the incidents occurred. I ask here. Let him answer what they were doing there, because Armenia still continues the occupation of Azerbaijani territories.”

The MP strongly condemned Famanyan’s accusations against PACE President Pedro Agramunt for his stance on the Karabakh conflict.

“The PACE president stands for justice and calls for a solution to the conflict,” Pashayeva said, urging the Assembly to pay more attention to this issue, work more on the termination of the occupation and put pressure on Armenia.