Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry expresses protest to French envoy

By  Trend

The French Ambassador to Azerbaijan has been summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, the Ministry said in a message Oct. 23.

An official protest was expressed to the ambassador in connection with the actions of a number of French representatives affecting the interests of Azerbaijan, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, including regarding the recent illegal visits to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan by the mayor of French city of Saint-Etienne and the head of Arnouville municipality.

Legal and political assessments were given to such steps of representatives of France, the government of which urged to hold effective measures to curb the activity of individuals and legal entities of that country directed against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

The ambassador was handed an official note of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.