Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry expresses discontent to Greek ambassador over Karabakh minister's visit to Greece
BAKU. March 17 (Interfax) - The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan has expressed concern to Greek ambassador in Baku Dimitrios Tsoungas in relation to the visit of the Foreign Minister of self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Karen Mirzoian to Greece.
"Ambassador Dimitrios Tsoungas was summoned to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan where the dissatisfaction and concern of the Azerbaijani side was expressed in relation to the visit to Greece on March 13-15 by Karen Mirzoian posing as a representative of the separatist regime established in the occupied Azerbaijani territories," says a statement of the ministry's press secretary Hikmet Hajiyev.
He said the Greek diplomat was told that the visit contradicts the memorandum of cooperation on EU issues between the Foreign Ministries of Azerbaijan and Greece that expresses the adherence of the sides to the principles of sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and inviolability of frontiers.
"At the meeting the Greek side was also invited to inform its citizens about the need to refrain from unlawful visits to the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia and to warn them about the related liability," Hajiyev said.
According to him, Tsoungas said Greece supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan and he is ready to inform his country about Baku's concern and dissatisfaction in relation to the question under discussion. "The Greek Foreign Ministry informed the Azerbaijani embassy in Athens that Mirzoian's visit was of a private nature and he did not meet any Greek government officials during it," the statement says.
According to the Nagorno-Karabakh Foreign Ministry, in Greece Mirzoian was a speaker at an event entitled "Stability and security in the Caucasus. The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh" that was organized at the initiative of the study center for the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Islam of the University of Peloponnese, Pandio institute of international relations and the Ai Dat committee of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation of Greece.