The visit by Marlene Mourier, the mayor of the French town of Bourg- les-Valence to Nagorno Karabakh and the signing of a Declaration on the twinning of his city with Shusha "is contrary to the law and to the mediation mission of Paris in the settlement the Karabakh conflict," reads the comment of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's press service on Mourier's visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, Turan said.
Further in the statement: "Official Baku regarded these actions on the eve of the meeting of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Paris, at the initiative of the President of France, as a provocation, inspired by the Armenian lobby. The French mayor who by his contacts with the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh regime encourages separatism, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, should be aware of the responsibility to his electors."