Azerbaijan, Baku, May 14 / Trend E. Tariverdiyeva /
To occupy the territory of another country and try to look like the head of a peace-loving country is at least not serious and is cynical towards having respect for international law and the community, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev told Trend today.
He was commenting on Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's provocative comments at a joint briefing after a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
"To banish indigenous people from the occupied territories historically belonged to the Azerbaijanis first and then to talk about any international recognition of these territories is an attempt to disguise the aggressive policy by cheap populism," Abdullayev said.
He added that the territories occupied by Armenia are Azerbaijani native lands and have the centuries-old culture and history.
"Strong Azerbaijan will return its occupied lands to the Azerbaijani people as these lands historically belong to them," Abdullayev said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.