Details added (first version posted on 17:00)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 12
Trend:
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry has condemned the visit of Greek and Latvian MPs to the country's Nagorno-Karabakh, occupied by Armenia.
The visit of member of Greek parliament Garyfallia (Liana) Kanelli and the member of the Latvian parliament Sergejs Potapkins to Karabakh is instigation and a biased approach, the spokesman for Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend Apr. 12.
Similar steps, which contradict the positions of Greece and Latvia on resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiations and the spirit of cooperation between Azerbaijan and these countries, encourage Armenia's provocative actions and exacerbate an already difficult situation, said Hajiyev.
Azerbaijan's embassies in Greece and Latvia will express dissatisfaction of the Azerbaijani side to the relevant structures of Greece and Latvia on the basis of friendship and mutual understanding between the two countries.
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.