Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry expresses its regret over the publication of an article in the newspaper Olaylar dated April 17, which does not reflect the position of Azerbaijan, and deems it unacceptable, spokesman Elman Abdullayev has said.

"Currently, Azerbaijan and Iran enjoy enhancing political, economic, cultural and social relations. Our people are bound together by common history, culture and religion," Abdullayev said.

"However, certain circles which have an unfriendly attitude toward the relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have become active recently.

"Serious and consistent efforts are deliberately being made by certain circles that want to spoil the friendly and neighbourly relations between our two states and want to damage bilateral ties," the ministry spokesman said. "This contradicts the state interests of both Azerbaijan and Iran and does not reflect the close neighbourly relations that exist between the two countries."

Abdullayev voiced confidence that the "unpleasant incidents in the media of the two states" would stop and the circles trying to fuel strife between the two countries would be exposed.

"With due respect to the free media, we call on media representatives of the two states to refrain from articles that damage bilateral relations and to be more attentive to the issues related to the relations between Azerbaijan and Iran," Abdullayev added.