Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 14

Trend:

Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces are conducting exercises on their own soil, Novruz Mammadov, deputy head of Azerbaijani presidential administration, chief of the administration's foreign relations department, tweeted November 14.

Mammadov was commenting on the statement of Richard Kauzlarich, former US ambassador to Azerbaijan.

“Where were you when Armenia staged exercises involving 45,000 troops in the occupied district of Agdam? Now that’s the attitude that President-elect Donald Trump calls double standards,” Mammadov added.

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.