Today.Az » Politics » Andy Williams: "I can state categorically that this map was not placed on the website with the British Council’s permission or knowledge" - PHOTO - UPDATED
08 February 2008 [15:26] - Today.Az
08.02.08
15:26
"The British Council was made aware of this incident yesterday morning. My staff responded promptly and action was taken within an hour to remove the offending map", Andy Williams. Director for South Caucasus of the British Council, told Day.Az.
"We are now in the process of investigating how this map was posted onto a British Council website. I can state categorically that this was not placed on the website with the British Council’s permission or knowledge. It is our belief that this was an illegal and malicious act by someone from outside the British Council. As a result we are reviewing the security of our web pages with immediate effect".
He said the British Council has worked hard over the past 15 years to develop excellent relations between the people of Azerbaijan and UK.
"I hope that this incident will not sour those relations and that the action the British Council has taken over the past 24 hours will assure the public that the British Council’s commitment to Azerbaijan remains solid. I would like to repeat the messages that we sent out yesterday through the media: UK government recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and Nagorniy Karabakh as a part of it. The British Council’s position on this is the same", he concluded.
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07.02.08
15:29
The incident connected with the map on the official website of the British Council, has been settled operatively. In this connection, Azerbaijan does not have any grounds to send a note of protest to Great Britain"
The due statement was made by spokesman for Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Khazar Ibragim, Day.Az reports.
He noted that Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry always inform other country about the inadmissibility of such incidents if they occur anywhere, apologizes are presented to Azerbaijan and the incident is considered exhausted after an operative reaction.
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14:30
The map on the website of the British Council, which fixed Nagorno Garabagh as part of Armenia, has just been removed, Day.Az reports.
Currently, the page of the map is not available.
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11:34
"The map, placed on the website of the British Council, will be changed in two hours and all shortcomings will be removed", British Council's Marketing Director in Azerbaijan Elman Safiyev told Day.Az.
He said it became possible after the issue was discussed with the due officials.
Spokesman for Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Khazar Ibragim confirmed the information.
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10:30
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan is currently dealing directly with this issue so that to correct this rude mistake in the shortest period of time", spokesman for Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Khazar Ibragim told Day.Az.
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10:25
"I have been informed about it this morning. British Council's position is the same as that of the British government, according to which Nagorno Garabagh is an integral part of Azerbaijan. We will contact the office in Armenia to remove the map", British Council Director on Marketing in Azerbaijan Elman Safiyev told Day.Az, commenting on the situation.
He said the map has been put on the website by the office in Armenia.
A source from British Embassy to Azerbaijan asked to clarify the issue in the British Council and after they were informed that the British Council has already made an official comment, asked to call again after 11:00 a.m., referring to an urgent meeting.
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10:22
First and foremost, we would like to inform readers about British Council.
This is a department of the British government, presenting Britishculture outside Great Britain. The Centers of the British Council are functioning in 110 countries and territories.
In fact, British Council is a part of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain. At the same time British Council is said to be independent from the Department, though maintaining close cooperation with it.
And now let's get to the main point.
Day.Az has received a letter from our reader, who drew our attention to the map of Armenia, placed on the OFFICIAL website of the British Council.
We would like to present the map of the South Caucasus, worked out by highly-educated professionals from the British Council.
Click on the map for a larger image:
As is seen from the map the occupied lands of Azerbaijan are indicated as a territory of Armenia, in particular, the regions of Nagorno Garabagh, as well as part of Geranboy region, which Armenian separatists call "The Shaumyan region of the so-called "Nagorno Garabagh Republic" and annex to the state which does not exist.
It should also be noted that at the map the name of Nakhchivan is written by Armenian model and at the same time the Armenian "cartographers" did not indicate that this territory belongs to Azerbaijan.
Notably, Armenian daydreamers with "good" knowledge of political geography "forgot" to indicate three Azerbaijani enclaves- Kyarki west to Sadarak and two other enclaves of the Gazakh region. At the same time, amnesia disappears when considering in the case of similar Armenian enclave Artsvashen in the center of Gedabey region. It is still here! In other words, everything is done by Armenian model.
In several hours Day.Az reporters will appeal for official comments to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, British Embassy to Azerbaijan, and British Council's Baku office.
Stay with us to be up on!
/Day.Az/
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