Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan has sent a protest note to France in connection with a visit of the head of the separatist regime in Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region to France.

Hikmat Hajiyev, the spokesman of Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry, said Khalaf Khalafov, Azerbaijan’s deputy foreign minister summoned the French ambassador to the Ministry on May 20.

Hajiyev told Trend that in connection with the May 17-18 visit to France by the representatives of the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh, created in Azerbaijan’s territories occupied by Armenia, Khalafov summoned Pascal Monnier to the ministry, where he was handed a note.

Khalafov said at the meeting that such facts, as well as the participation of the members of the French Senate as “observers” at the “parliamentary” election held on May 3 by the so-called regime of Nagorno-Karabakh, contradicts the spirit of developing friendly and partnership relations between the two countries.

He also said this doesn’t correspond to France’s mandate of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair and harm the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

Backed politically and financially by Yerevan the separatist regime in Karabakh arranged so-called "polls" on May 3, in defiance to both Azerbaijan's law and international law.

The international community showed great solidarity towards Azerbaijan's position, supporting its sovereignty and territorial integrity by criticizing the so-called "elections" and recognizing the Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the country's territory.

“The ambassador was informed that such cases are regarded as an indicator of double standards and negatively impact the current state of relations between Azerbaijan and France,” Hajiyev said.

He said the ambassador promised to convey the note and the serious concern of Baku to the French leadership.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by U.S, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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