Azernews.Az

BAKU – The foreign ministries of Azerbaijan and Uruguay are due to hold their first consultations in 2011, according to an agreement reached during Azerbaijani Ambassador to Mexico Ilgar Mukhtarov’s visit to Uruguay.

Mukhtarov has held a meeting with the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry’s senior official Nelson Yemil Chaben, according to the embassy. During the talks, the parties signed an agreement on cooperation between the two countries’ foreign ministries and decided to hold consultations in Baku.

Mukhtarov touched upon Armenia’s aggression against Azerbaijan and briefed Uruguay’s official about the history of the long-standing conflict and the ongoing peace talks.

Armenia has been occupying over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory since the end of a war fought in the early 1990s. A precarious ceasefire has been in place since 1994.

Chaben said Uruguay has consistently upheld the norms of international law and adherence to the principles of the territorial integrity of states and inviolability of their borders.

Uruguay, which is home to a large Armenian community, was the first country to formally recognize in 1965 the alleged World War I-era genocide of Armenians.

Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their ancestors were killed in Ottoman Turkey and have been trying to muster international support for their claims worldwide. Turkey dismisses the claims.