European MP’s name included in “undesirable persons” list

‘Member of the European Parliament from the Republic of Cyprus Eleni Theocharous was included in the list of persons banned from entering the territory of our country, and the General Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan initiated a criminal case against her under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code. This person, acting under the influence of Armenia and the Armenian lobby, demonstrates the position of justifying the aggressive policy of the ruling circles of Armenia and encouraging their occupation policy,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend.

Earlier, the spokesman of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Hikmat Hajiyev, said that the number of illegal visits to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan has significantly decreased. He noted that such visits have decreased after Azerbaijan launched its “undesirable persons” list, and has taken measures related to the issue.

Names of any individuals paying unauthorized visits to NagornoKarabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia are included in the Foreign Ministry’s list of “undesirable persons.” The ministry and diplomatic missions pay special attention to the illegal activity in the occupied areas of the country.

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 regions.

In the battles, which ended on October 2, 1992, as many as 147 Khojavand residents were killed, more than 300 people were injured, many of whom have remained disabled to this day.

As many as 100 civilians in different periods of occupation became hostages of the Armenian military, 49 of them did not survive the harsh conditions of captivity.

Khojavand was established on the basis of Martuni and Hadrut administrative regions after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region of Azerbaijan was abolished in 1991. The region has an area of 1,458 square kilometers and its population was about 41,216 people before the occupation. The region includes Khojavand city, two large settlements Girmizi Bazar and Hadrut, and 81 villages.

The terrain of Khojavand region is mostly mountainous – its height varies from approximately 500 to 2,800 meters. The region has Kurichay, Chaylukh, Aghoghlanchay and some other rivers.

There were 10 pre-school institutions, 21 eight-year and 16 secondary schools, 40 libraries, 5 hospitals, and 27 health posts. The population was mainly engaged in viticulture, arable farming, potato growing, garnet farming, animal husbandry and especially pig breeding, poultry farming, sericulture etc.

Most of the area was covered with forests, where several species of rare trees grew. In the burned areas, 47 plant and 19 tree species were burned and destroyed.

Before the occupation, the city of Khojavand, two large settlements - the Gyrmyzy Bazaar and Hadrut, and 83 villages were located in Khojavand region. In these lands, among the monuments of nature, there was one copy of a two-thousand-year eastern Chinar, as well as centenarian Azat trees that were included in the Red Book.

Today, many of these trees, carefully guarded by Azerbaijan, have been cut down by the aggressor.

As a result of military aggression, the ancestral territories of Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 administrative regions attached to it are occupied by Armenia.

More than 20 percent of the territory of Azerbaijan was occupied, more than 20,000 people were killed, more than 50,000 people were wounded and maimed. More than 1 million people, victims of the policy of genocide and ethnic cleansing carried out by Armenia against Azerbaijan, live in the situation of refugees and IDPs, are deprived of basic human rights.

So, Armenia grossly violating the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, is engaged in looting cultural property of Azerbaijan.

Despite the demands expressed in UN Security Council resolutions on the need to recognize the territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the release of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan without preconditions, the Republic of Armenia continues to pursue its aggressive policy.