Details added (first version posted on 18:22)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.16
Trend:
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry considers constant attempts of the United States to interfere in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan unacceptable, said the statement of the acting head of the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hikmet Hajiyev.
The statement came as a response to the critical statement of the representative of the US State Department on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan.
"Azerbaijan has fully secured the rule of law and the independence of the judicial system," Hajiyev said.
Such baseless interference by the United States is a violation of the rule of law and the commitments made by the United States, said the statement.
"Attempts to transform human rights into a foreign policy tool, which is used to exert political pressure, have long lost its influence," Hajiyev said. "It is unacceptable to treat human rights selectively, with a policy of double standards. The states acting as "messengers" of human rights, in this case the United States, should treat more carefully the rights of Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons deprived of their basic rights as a result of the Armenian aggression, as well as the facts of ethnic cleansing on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan."
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 two countries 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 four U.N. Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.