Azernews.Az

BAKU – Meetings in the US Congress held by the "parliament speaker" of the self-proclaimed Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh republic have sparked ire from Azerbaijan. Baku issued a protest to the United States following Ashot Gulyan’s talks.

The protest note was handed to the US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Adam Sterling at the Foreign Ministry last week, but the ministry announced the move this Friday.

20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including Nagorno Karabakh and seven adjacent districts, has been under Armenian occupation for nearly two decades. Defying international law, the separatist regime in Nagorno Karabakh declared so-called independence in 1991, which has not been recognized by the world community.

"Such a move – attempting to arrange a visit of persons from the occupied territories to third countries, particularly the United States, which is a [mediating] Minsk Group co-chair - has caused Azerbaijan’s strong indignation and severe condemnation," the protest note said. "Such visits could cast a shadow on relations between the two countries."

Elkhan Polukhov, the spokesman for the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry, said that the US State Department responded several days ago by telling the Azerbaijani embassy in the U.S. that Ashot Gulyan’s visit was private. Gulyan paid the visit as an Armenian citizen and held no official meetings while in the U.S.

Washington also reaffirmed its stance on recognizing Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

Meanwhile, Robert Bradtke, the US Minsk Group co-chair, hosted a delegation led by the separatist regime’s parliament speaker, Armenian media reported. Discussions focused on the current state in settling the Karabakh conflict, the work of the OSCE mediators, as well as ways of capitalizing on parliamentary diplomacy to reinforce peace in the volatile region.