Baku removes Argentinean journalist from personas non grata list

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Baku removed the name of an Argentinean journalist from its list of personas non grata.

Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Hikmet Hajiyev said the name of the deputy editor of Tiempo Argentino newspaper, Luis Faraoni which has been included in the ministry's "black list" following his illegal visit to Azerbaijan’s occupied territories on March 18-23 this year, has been taken off.

Following an appeal to the Azerbaijani embassy in Argentina, Faraoni expressed his regret that his visit to the occupied territories had caused problems in his relations with Azerbaijan. He assured the authorities in Baku that he would never by-pass Azerbaijan's sovereignty in such a manner ever again.

He claimed that before his visit to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region he was unaware that there was a special procedure to follow and that failing to adequately register a visit would entail being blacklisted.

In a letter of appeal, the journalist expressed his high respect to Azerbaijan's sovereignty, its territorial integrity and inviolability of its internationally recognized borders. Faraoni then called on the authorities to consider removing his name from the "black list” of the Foreign Ministry, Hajiyev said.

"We looked into Faraoni's case and decided to remove his name from the list of personas non grata," Hajiyev concluded.

Visiting the occupied lands without Baku's official permit is considered a violation of the country's law and a clear disrespect of its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Foreign Ministry developed a special black list for all those who have failed to comply with Baku's requirements and made illegal visits to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Foreign Ministry earlier this year included The New York Times journalist Seth Kugel in the "blacklist" after he visited Azerbaijan's Shusha city in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region avoiding deliberately to request Baku's official permission.

The Foreign Ministry and diplomatic missions pay special attention to any illegal activity in the occupied areas of Azerbaijan. Work is constantly carried out to prevent such illegal actions.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats against unauthorized visits to those territories which remain under Armenian occupation calling them contradictory to international law.

Azerbaijan's internationally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh territory has become a conflict zone following Armenia's aggression in the early 1990s. As a result of Armenia's armed invasion, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory fell under Armenia's occupation. Although the OSCE has attempted to foster a peaceful resolution to this conflict Armenia has remained persistent in its aggressive stance.