Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry criticized the Armenian president's message in connection with the so-called 'Freedom Day' of the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh -- the Azerbaijani region under the Armenian occupation.

"Presenting the occupation of the territories of the neighboring country as 'the protection of their own freedom' is a brilliant example of an attempt to justify Armenia's militarist policy," Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev told Trend news agency on September 2.

He reminded that as a result of the so-called 'protection of our own freedom', one million Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs suffered a bloody ethnic cleansing and driven out of their native lands.

"Apparently, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan refers to this as 'protection of freedom'," Abdullayev underlined.

He said that it is unacceptable to change the borders by using force in today's world, especially when these borders have been recognized by the international community.

"One must draw the Armenian side's attention to the documents and decisions made by the international community. Armenia has been recognized as an aggressor and is condemned for the occupation of Azerbaijani territories," Abdullayev noted.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that sparked a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks aimed at resolving the long-standing conflict, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.