Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan and Slovenia signed an agreement on military cooperation during Slovenian Defense Minister Ljubica Jelusic’s visit to Baku on Wednesday.

Hosting the Slovenian official, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev spoke of the military and political situation in the volatile region and the challenges caused by the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. He said Armenia, which occupies part of Azerbaijani territory, is failing to relinquish its policy of occupation and hampering a peaceful settlement of the long-standing dispute.

"This being said, Azerbaijan’s exercising its sovereign right to liberate its territories will become inevitable, giving an impetus to the emergence of a more tense situation in the whole region," Abiyev said, according to the Defense Ministry.

Armenian armed forces have been occupying over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory since a war in the early 1990s, defying international law. Peace talks brokered by OSCE mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

President Ilham Aliyev met the Slovenian minister on the same day. The president pointed out the successful development of relations between the two countries.

President Aliyev voiced confidence that Jelusic’s visit would be productive and effective in terms of exploring opportunities for cooperation between relevant Azerbaijani and Slovenian bodies.

Mrs. Jelusic said bilateral relations are underpinned by close cooperation between the two countries’ leaders and common values between the two nations.