Azerbaijan sends protest note to Uruguay

Azerbaijan has sent a protest note to Uruguay due to the recent statements made by this country's MP and his illegal visit to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, Spokesman of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Elman Abdullayev said at a briefing on Wednesday.

"Visit of several MPs of Uruguay does not change anything except escalating the situation. Armenian forces are behind it and it harms the negotiating process. Armenia realizes that Azerbaijan is able to return its territories back, but at this stage it adheres to peaceful solutions to the conflict. Azerbaijan is able to return its lands," Abdullayev said.

Uruguay could become the first country recognizing the independence of the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh, co-chairman of the Armenian-Uruguayan inter-parliamentary friendship group, member of the Commission on Foreign Relations of Uruguay's Parliament, Rubén Martínez Huelmo said on Tuesday night in Khankendi, ARKA reported.

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.