President Aliyev criticises Dutch motion against Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan's president on Wednesday said motions adopted by the Dutch parliament that call on government to encourage the EU to impose sanctions against his country in the context of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict were "unjust".

Ilham Aliyev was speaking after receiving credentials of the newly appointed ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands.

"The fact that the parliament adopts such an unbalanced and I think, unjust decision will not of course, help us to establish closer ties," said Aliyev.

Aliev added that the future relationship with Netherlands will depend "on the further steps" taken by the Dutch government.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.

The fighting that erupted late September marked the biggest escalation of a decades-old conflict between the two ex-Soviet nations in over a quarter century.

A Russia-brokered cease-fire halted fighting that killed hundreds, possibly thousands, in six weeks, but it stipulated that Armenia turn over control of some areas its holds outside Nagorno-Karabakh’s borders to Azerbaijan and angered many Armenians.