Baku warns foreign states of Armenian provocation

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has called on foreign states to take measures to prevent the participation of their citizens in an event planned to be held in the country’s occupied territories.

Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Hikmat Hajiyev said that Armenia plans to hold an event on September 14-17 with the participation of experts in the occupied Azerbaijani territories allegedly to discuss the problems and prospects of recognizing the illegal regime created on the occupied Azerbaijani lands.

Usually, Armenian citizens and representatives of Armenian origin from other countries take part in such events, Hajiyev noted.

He went on to add that the real goal of the Armenian side is political provocation, propaganda of the illegal regime created in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, and the use of the invited persons as a tool for political propaganda.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry urged foreign nationals invited to the event not to succumb to such a lie, not to become a tool for Armenian propaganda and respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan,.

Hajiyev reminded that illegal visiting of the occupied Azerbaijani lands entails legal responsibility.

Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia are considered illegal, and any individuals paying such visits are included in the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's "black list".

Baku has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats of illegality of visits to its territories that are occupied by Armenia, calling them contradictory to international law. The work is constantly carried out to prevent such illegal actions.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.