Azerbaijan's ambassador also presented a note to the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, expressing "deep concer" over a coference held at the Lithuanian parliament and saying that it "can have a negative impact on our bilateral relations," accorrding to an embassy official.
The Azerbaijani community says that the conference "Lithuania and Armenia – A Step to Close Past," which was intended to celebrate 25-year anniversaries of democratic movements in both states, in fact "turned out to be a manifestation of solidarity with the so-called Republic of Nagorno Karabakh."
"Under such circumstances, the association Lithuania-Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani Community in Lithuania views as unprecedented and intolerable the conditions allowed during the conference for an official speech by the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh's 'foreign minister' and establishment of the Seimas support group for the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh," reads the communiqué signed by chairman of the Azerbaijani Community in Lithuania, Mahir Gamzayev, and president of the association Lithuania-Azerbaijan, Imantas Melianas.
"This does not only discredit your parliament – it can have a sore effect upon political, economic, cultural and other types of Lithuanian relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey as one of the most important Lithuanian allies in NATO. Furthermore, they clearly run counter to the principles of the European Union's (EU) Eastern Partnership policies and complicate Lithuania's role in the process," reads the communiqué.
Meanwhile the initiator of the group, Liberal MP Dalia Kuodytė, said that the group was not established to support Nagorno Karabakh's independence but friendship with the region, adding that there were no contradictions to the official foreign policies of Lithuania.
In the 1990s, Azerbaijan and Armenia were engaged in a long brutal war for the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh.
