By Burc Eruygur
ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijan on Thursday said that it summoned Poland’s charge d'affaires in the capital Baku over Polish President Andrzej Duda’s visit to Armenia's border region a day earlier.
According to a Foreign Ministry statement, Baku summoned the charge d’affaires to protest Duda’s visit to the border region near the village of Kerki, accusing the Polish president of taking part in “anti-Azerbaijani propaganda” together with staff of the EU Mission in Armenia (EUMA).
Expressing that Duda took part in the visit to the border region despite Baku’s warnings, the statement claimed the mission is being widely exploited as an “anti-Azerbaijani propaganda tool.”
“It was emphasized that this provocation contradicts Azerbaijani-Polish relations and that it is necessary to refrain from such steps that affect the legitimate security interests of Azerbaijan,” the statement added.
On Tuesday, Duda embarked on a two-day visit to Armenia, on the last day of which he took part in a patrol of the EUMA in the northern part of Yerevan’s border with Azerbaijan’s autonomous Nakhchivan exclave.
Baku had protested Duda’s visit to the border region on the same day, describing it in a statement on X as “another demonstration of anti-Azerbaijani policy of different EU member countries and European institutions.”
“We deeply regret that President of the country which is officially a ‘strategic partner’ of Azerbaijan has participated in the unacceptable diplomatic ‘binocular show’ leading to the aggravation of relations between Azerbaijan and Poland,” it said.
“Azerbaijan retains its rights to take due diplomatic measures against this unfriendly action,” it added.