The Azerbaijani community of the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan issued a statement regarding the information disseminated by Armenian media about moving the so-called "structures" of the illegal regime created by the occupying country in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan from Khankandi to Shusha.

"Shusha is a city of great historical and spiritual importance for Azerbaijan, and on the eve of the 270th anniversary of its founding, we condemn another provocative attempt by Armenia," said the statement.

"We have repeatedly witnessed such provocations. One of them was the change of the architecture of the Yukhari Govhar Agha mosque in Shusha and the attempt to present it as an "Iranian mosque", [and another] - to presenting a Russian church as an "Armenian church". Moreover, several months ago, the Armenian leadership organized a show called "inauguration" in Shusha. All these steps are nothing more than obstacles to the settlement of the conflict and they should be strongly condemned by the international community," the statement stressed.

"These provocative actions of Armenia will never weaken our commitment to return to our native lands. Subjected to ethnic cleansing, the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh region will return to their lands and establish structures within the sovereignty of Azerbaijan," stated the comminity.

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 the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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