Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 16 / Trend E. Tariverdiyeva /
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has not received an official response to a note of protest delivered to Iranian ambassador in connection with the statements of the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Seyyed Hassan Firouzabadi.
He spoke about the Azerbaijani leadership and people through the Iranian news agency FARS, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry official representative Elkhan Polukhov told Trend.
Commenting on Firouzabadi's statements, Polukhov said that it was strange to hear the military's political appeals toward the country, which he calls a friendly country.
It is also strange to see how his ministry cooperates with Armenia, which holds 20 percent of the Azerbaijani territories under occupation.
"It would be logical to hear Firouzabadi's call and demand to Armenian militarists to withdraw occupying forces from Azerbaijani territory and to restore the violated rights of more than one million Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons," Polukhov said.
He said that in this case, Firouzabadi would perform a role more corresponding to his position.
Azerbaijan delivered a note of protest to Iran due to unreasonable statements made by the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Seyyed Hassan Firouzabadi toward the Azerbaijani leadership and people posted on Iranian Fars news agency's issue, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said.
Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohammad Bagher Bahrami was summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.
Receiving Bahrami Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Nadir Huseynov delivered the Azerbaijani side's protest note to him.
The Foreign Ministry's note expresses strong protest against Iranian official's irresponsible slanders and notes that publication of statements on the Iranian press against the Azerbaijani people and government, which are contrary to Azerbaijan's national interests and security and distort domestic and foreign policy, contradicts the existing friendly relations between the two countries and their mutual obligations.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry demanded the Iranian side to prevent further spread of such slanders, take the necessary steps so shat such a situation was not repeated any more, and demanded an explanation on the matter.