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State Committee for Working with Religious Associations Chairman Hidayat Orujov called upon Moscow Patriarchate to be careful in statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The fact that the Patriarchate's representative included the church in the Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, speaks about negligence," Orujov told journalists today.
Regarding Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill's Armenia visit scheduled for March, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate monk Philippe (Ryabykh), said that today Armenia has three temples of the Moscow Patriarchate: "One of them is located in Yerevan and the other in Russia's military base in Gyumri, and the third - in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani official said.
In connection with this issue, Orujov met with the head of the Baku-Caspian diocese and is awaiting a formal response from senior clergy of Russia.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. General Assembly's resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the occupied territories.
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