Latvian man excluded from black list of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry

By  Trend

Harizs Egliens, a citizen of Latvia and an employee of the IMPRO Travels LTD, has sent a letter to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, asking to exclude him from the list of foreigners who illegally visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement October 3.

Egliens noted in his letter that he visited Nagorno-Karabakh in October 2015 and was not informed about the consequences of the visit.

He stressed that the visit does not mean disrespect for Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani people.

Egliens noted that he respects the laws, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan in the framework of internationally recognized borders, and apologized to the government and people of Azerbaijan for traveling to the occupied territories.

Expressing his regret in connection with the visit, Egliens stressed that the visit to the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia doesn't in any way serve the purpose of encouraging the illegal regime established in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

In his letter, Egliens also noted that in the future, he will refrain from such visits to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. In conclusion, he asked for permission to visit Azerbaijan in the future.

His appeal was considered and a decision was made to exclude him from the list of undesirable persons of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Visiting Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied Azerbaijani territories without agreement with the Azerbaijani side is considered illegal, and the names of the persons who make such visits are included in the black list of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

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.