Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry condemns visit of the mayor of Saint-Etienne to Karabakh

Baku/22.10.18/Turan: The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan strongly condemned the visit of Gael Perdrio, the mayor of the French city of Saint Etienne to the city of Shusha occupied by Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, this step of the local government of France is in flagrant violation of the norms and principles of international law and the laws of Azerbaijan, as well as the national legislation of France. All this serves to encourage the separatist regime created in the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia. During this visit, the mayor of Saint Etienne is accompanied by the well-known lobbyist of Armenian interests, Francois Roshbulan.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry recalls that the French Foreign Minister stated in a statement dated May 24, 2018 that local governments in France are prohibited from entering into any agreements with separatist structures of unrecognized territories and carrying out visits there, holding joint events. In this regard, the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan indicated that the Declaration of Friendship, signed during the visit, has no legal force.

Such illegal actions of local governments of France damage the authority of this country, as a mediator in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group to resolve the problem peacefully. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry calls on the French government to take measures to prevent illegal actions on the part of local governments of this country.

The mayor of Saint Etienne, Perdrio, will be included in the list of undesirable persons by the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, as having violated the laws of Azerbaijan and visited the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region. -06D-