Tweet
BAKU SCRUTINIZES RUSSIAN CITIZENS' ILLEGAL VISIT TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Aug 27 2013
27 August 2013, 13:54 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
Persons who have visited Nagorno-Karabakh will be considered persona
non grata in Azerbaijan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev
told Day.Az website while commenting on a visit of Russian journalists
and public figures to Khankendi.
Khankendi is the center of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh
republic run by ethnic Armenians in the Azerbaijani territories under
Armenian occupation.
According to Abdullayev, Azerbaijan's position of principle on the
issue has been repeatedly expressed. "And it lies in the fact that
people who have visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan without
having agreed upon the visit with relevant authorities of the country
will be considered persona non grata in the country," he said.
Abdullayev said that since visits to the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan are illegal, the visit of the said persons is a violation
of the law "On State Border" of Azerbaijan.
"Of course, Azerbaijan, in turn, will scrutinize the visit as soon
as possible and issue relevant instructions to our embassies," he said.
At the invitation of Armenian-Russian Cooperation, a Moscow-based
organization, a number of Russian journalists paid a visit to Armenia
and the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Unlike previous cases of illegal visits to the occupied territories
of Azerbaijan, Armenian sources this time didn't hasten to disclose
the names and positions of all visitors.
However, it became clear that the group included TV host Anna Chapman,
member of the Public Chamber of Russia Denis Dvornikov, public
figure, human rights activist Sergei Karnaukhov, correspondent of the
Rossiyskiy Reporter (Russian Reporter) magazine and correspondent of
DairyNews news agency Alexandra Ryzhkova, and others.
Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats
over visits to the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia,
saying this contradicts international law. The Foreign Ministry
has stated that such visits, paid without prior notification of the
relevant authorities of Azerbaijan, are illegal and damaging to the
settlement process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Recently, the Foreign Ministry published a list of those declared
persona non grata over illegal visits to the Armenian-occupied
territories, which included 335 people.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made
territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early
1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed
forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions. The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian
withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.
Peace talks aimed at resolving the long-standing conflict, mediated by
Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway
on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs
and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely
fruitless so far.
http://www.azernews.az/azerbaijan/58612.html
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Aug 27 2013
27 August 2013, 13:54 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
Persons who have visited Nagorno-Karabakh will be considered persona
non grata in Azerbaijan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev
told Day.Az website while commenting on a visit of Russian journalists
and public figures to Khankendi.
Khankendi is the center of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh
republic run by ethnic Armenians in the Azerbaijani territories under
Armenian occupation.
According to Abdullayev, Azerbaijan's position of principle on the
issue has been repeatedly expressed. "And it lies in the fact that
people who have visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan without
having agreed upon the visit with relevant authorities of the country
will be considered persona non grata in the country," he said.
Abdullayev said that since visits to the occupied territories of
Azerbaijan are illegal, the visit of the said persons is a violation
of the law "On State Border" of Azerbaijan.
"Of course, Azerbaijan, in turn, will scrutinize the visit as soon
as possible and issue relevant instructions to our embassies," he said.
At the invitation of Armenian-Russian Cooperation, a Moscow-based
organization, a number of Russian journalists paid a visit to Armenia
and the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Unlike previous cases of illegal visits to the occupied territories
of Azerbaijan, Armenian sources this time didn't hasten to disclose
the names and positions of all visitors.
However, it became clear that the group included TV host Anna Chapman,
member of the Public Chamber of Russia Denis Dvornikov, public
figure, human rights activist Sergei Karnaukhov, correspondent of the
Rossiyskiy Reporter (Russian Reporter) magazine and correspondent of
DairyNews news agency Alexandra Ryzhkova, and others.
Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats
over visits to the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia,
saying this contradicts international law. The Foreign Ministry
has stated that such visits, paid without prior notification of the
relevant authorities of Azerbaijan, are illegal and damaging to the
settlement process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Recently, the Foreign Ministry published a list of those declared
persona non grata over illegal visits to the Armenian-occupied
territories, which included 335 people.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made
territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early
1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed
forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions. The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian
withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.
Peace talks aimed at resolving the long-standing conflict, mediated by
Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway
on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs
and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely
fruitless so far.
http://www.azernews.az/azerbaijan/58612.html