YEREVAN, June 15. /TASS/. Armenia views the visit of Presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the town of Shusha located in Nagorno-Karabakh as a provocation aimed at undermining regional peace and security, the national Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"We decisively condemn the joint visit of the Turkish and Azerbaijani presidents to the town of Shusha, Armenia’s historic and cultural center in Artsakh (unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic – TASS), which is currently placed under Azerbaijan’s occupation, on June 15 as an obvious provocation against peace and security in the region," the statement reads.

The ministry noted, "it is noteworthy that this visit was preceded by destruction of religious, historic and cultural heritage of the forcibly relocated indigenous Armenian population, particularly during the war waged by Turkish and Azerbaijani forces against Artsakh, including the desecration of Ghazanchetsots Cathedral and the full destruction of the memorial honoring victims of the Armenian genocide".

"These provocative actions clearly demonstrate the false nature of statements made in Ankara and Baku about normalization of ties with Armenia and Armenian people. We reiterate that the elimination of the consequences of the recent Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh should be carried out as part of a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict under the auspices of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group," the statement adds.