The Armenian leadership is greatly ruining the efforts to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said, Trend reports.

"The fact that the Armenian prime minister and the president congratulated the puppet separatist regime created by the aggressor Armenia on Azerbaijani territories, with the so-called "Independence Day" is a clear and undisguised recognition of the country's aggressive policy,” the ministry said.

"The visit of the Armenian political leadership and the heads of its diplomatic missions to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and the surrounding territories shows that the aggressor country attempts to consolidate the status quo, based on the results of the policy of aggression with gross violation of the norms and principles of international law, which greatly ruins the efforts to resolve the conflict peacefully," the ministry said.

"The recent completely groundless statements of the Armenian leadership and its steps are aimed at convincing itself and people of the "justification" of its illegal actions,” the ministry said.

"Otherwise, how can one characterize the holding of a "holiday of independence" on a part of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, the "independence" of which has not been recognized by any country and the occupation is condemned in numerous documents and resolutions adopted by the international community?

"Armenia, which is responsible for the military occupation of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan and the bloody ethnic cleansing of the local Azerbaijani population, as well as other crimes against humanity, must realize that these lands will return again to Azerbaijan,” the ministry said. "The joint peaceful coexistence of the two communities of the region in peace and security will be ensured on these lands.”

"There is no other solution to the conflict,” the ministry added. "The mediators - the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and the entire world community understand this.”

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, 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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.