President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan says that there has been a "verbal agreement" that the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh’s status would not be raised.

He urged Armenia to stop raising the issue of the status of Karabakh, Interfax reports.

"There has been a verbal agreement that the issue of the "status of Karabakh" would not be raised. But unfortunately, we have been hearing statements from the Armenian government about the “status” of so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh”, which is absolutely counterproductive," Aliyev told the IX Global Baku Forum on Thursday.

He echoed his claims that Nagorno-Karabakh does not exist, adding "any mention of its status will only lead to new problems."

According to him, if Armenia questions the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, it will force Baku to take similar steps with regard to its territory.