Ambassador Garib Israfilov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the International Organizations in Vienna met today with Ambassador Rafel Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

At the meeting, the Azerbaijani ambassador referring to the recent speculations of the Armenia side around the comments of the spokesperson of Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry on the Metsamor NPP, resolutely rejected this yet another attempt of Armenia to mislead the international community, with the obvious purpose of distracting the attention from its continues military occupation of Azerbaijani territories, which was achieved by the unlawful use of force, mass atrocities, ethnic cleansing and other flagrant violation of international law.

Ambassador Israfilov informed the IAEA director-general that the remarks from the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry should be viewed in the context of deliberate targeting by the Armenian armed forces of the civilian population in the border districts of Azerbaijan, including by using indiscriminately artillery fire, which cased serious damage to the civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings, and resulted in death and injuries among the civilians.

“These comments were made in response to the media reports that the Armenian side considered the Mingachevir Dam in Azerbaijan as a military target,” he added.

He also underlined that the Azerbaijani armed forces never target civilians or civilian infrastructure and use force only against Armenia’s military in response to the armed attack in the exercise of the right of self-defense in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter. Israfilov said that Armenia’s speculations are curious insofar as Armenia persistently threatens to use force against the Azerbaijani civilian infrastructure.

The ambassador drew the attention of Director General Grossi to the long-standing security concerns of Azerbaijan regarding the Metsamor NPP that remains unaddressed.

He urged IAEA to conduct an open review of the Metsamor NPP, on the basis of a comprehensive and transparent risk and security assessment aiming at a comprehensive evaluation of the Plant’s safety status.

Furthermore, the Azerbaijani ambassador drew the attention of the IAEA director-general to the trafficking in nuclear and other radioactive materials from Armenia.

News.Az