"Strongly condemning the visits of the mayors of the French cities of Alfortville and Valence to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan, we state that these actions are a gross violation of the norms and principles of international law, as well as the Azerbaijani legislation and serve to promoting the illegal separatist regime created by Armenia on the occupied Azerbaijani territories," spokesperson of Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva said.

Axar.az informs that she was commenting on the visit of Alfortville and Valence mayors to the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.

"Such provocative acts of the local authorities violate the letter and the spirit of the agreements signed between France and Azerbaijan, as well as the national legislation of France. Moreover, such visits are not conducive to the earliest resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in the process of which France acts as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.

"We recall the Circular on the legal framework of external actions of local authorities signed by the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France on May 24, 2018, which obliges the local authorities to respect the international obligations of France and prohibits them from interacting in any form, including concluding agreements, carrying out visits and holding joint actions with the separatist authorities of territorial entities which have not been recognized by France.

"Once again we draw the attention of the French side to the mandatory nature of this Circular, adopted and acting in accordance with Article 73 of the French Constitution and Article L.1115-1 of the General Code of Local Authorities, and call them to take all necessary measures for the unconditional and immediate implementation of its provisions," the spokesperson said.