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Xinhua General News Service, China
September 18, 2012 Tuesday 6:40 PM EST
U.S. and Swiss astronauts on Azerbaijan's "blacklist"
BAKU Sept. 18
The former United States astronaut Charles Duke and Swiss astronaut
Claude Nicollier will be included in Azerbaijan's blacklist, spokesman
of the Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Elman Abdullayev told media on
Tuesday.
According to Abdullayev, the two astronauts will be denied visit to
Azerbaijan, as they have traveled to Nagorno-Karabakh, a region which
is officially part of Azerbaijan, but under Armenian control, without
the approval of Azerbaijan.
"Traveling to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan without a
permission of Azerbaijan is illegal," he said.
He explained that those who visited Nagorno-Karabakh and seven
surrounding regions of Azerbaijan occupied by neighboring Armenia will
be included in the "list of undesirable persons."
According to the Armenian media, Duke and Nicollier traveled to
Nagorno Karabakh to take part in the conference titled "Human and
Space" on Sept. 16.
The landlocked mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh is the subject
of an unresolved dispute between Azerbaijan, in which it lies, and its
Armenian majority, backed by neighboring Armenia.
In 1988, towards the end of Soviet rule, Azerbaijani troops and
Armenian secessionists began a bloody war which left this region in
the hands of Armenians when a truce was signed in 1994.
Negotiations have so far failed to produce a permanent peace
agreement, and the dispute remains one of post-Soviet Europe's "
frozen conflicts".
From: A. Papazian
September 18, 2012 Tuesday 6:40 PM EST
U.S. and Swiss astronauts on Azerbaijan's "blacklist"
BAKU Sept. 18
The former United States astronaut Charles Duke and Swiss astronaut
Claude Nicollier will be included in Azerbaijan's blacklist, spokesman
of the Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Elman Abdullayev told media on
Tuesday.
According to Abdullayev, the two astronauts will be denied visit to
Azerbaijan, as they have traveled to Nagorno-Karabakh, a region which
is officially part of Azerbaijan, but under Armenian control, without
the approval of Azerbaijan.
"Traveling to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan without a
permission of Azerbaijan is illegal," he said.
He explained that those who visited Nagorno-Karabakh and seven
surrounding regions of Azerbaijan occupied by neighboring Armenia will
be included in the "list of undesirable persons."
According to the Armenian media, Duke and Nicollier traveled to
Nagorno Karabakh to take part in the conference titled "Human and
Space" on Sept. 16.
The landlocked mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh is the subject
of an unresolved dispute between Azerbaijan, in which it lies, and its
Armenian majority, backed by neighboring Armenia.
In 1988, towards the end of Soviet rule, Azerbaijani troops and
Armenian secessionists began a bloody war which left this region in
the hands of Armenians when a truce was signed in 1994.
Negotiations have so far failed to produce a permanent peace
agreement, and the dispute remains one of post-Soviet Europe's "
frozen conflicts".
From: A. Papazian