Azernews.Az

BAKU – The Azerbaijani government has warned against holding so-called local elections reportedly planned by separatists in the occupied Nagorno Karabakh region on Sunday.

Responding to Armenian media reports on the elections in the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh republic, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry stated that the unrecognized separatist regime in the country’s occupied territories represents nothing but "an illegal structure established by the Republic of Armenia on the basis of ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijani population".

"The so-called ‘elections’ are conducted in order to camouflage the annexation policy of Armenia and are aimed at consolidation of the results of the continued occupation of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan," the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Baku called upon Armenia to stop its destructive illegal steps and instead "to demonstrate a good will and take a constructive position" in the ongoing peace talks in order to find a soonest and durable solution to the long-standing Nagorno Karabakh conflict on the basis of international law.

Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno Karabakh, backed by Armenia, declared so-called independence in 1991, which has not been recognized by the international community.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced up to a million Azerbaijanis. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, has been under the occupation of Armenian armed forces since a fragile ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks, brokered by US, Russian and French mediators, have been largely fruitless so far.