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The basis for the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the fact of military aggression and occupation, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said in an interview, published in the French parliament's "Le Journal du Parlement".

The minister stressed that aggressive separatism with terrorist actions, which began from the end of the 1980s, turned into open military aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan after the collapse of the USSR.

"By using military force, Armenia occupied Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region and adjacent districts, committed ethnic cleansing against more than one million Azerbaijanis, he said. 'The aggressive separatism which was not timely suppressed, as well as double standards, led to tragedy we have today.

'Profound measures must be taken against the tendencies of separatism in Europe and they must be stopped, he said. 'A decisive and unequivocal position against all forms and manifestations of separatism must be demonstrated.

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Azerbaijani FM: Karabakh is conflict based on Armenia's military aggression and occupation