Three foreigners put in black list for illegally visiting Karabakh

T“Armenia, which did not achieve its provocative goals during the Francophonie summit, organized the illegal visit of some members of the Board of the International Press Union of the Francophonie to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reports.

By making this illegal visit contrary to the principles of journalism ethics and objectivity, Jean Kouchner, Francois Dost and Khadijah Ridouane will be included to the undesirable people list of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, the message said.

Recently, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on International Affairs Svetlana Zhurova, Russian writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya, the founder of the international charity foundation "Vera" Anna Federmesser, were also included into the blacklist after illegally visiting Nagorno-Karabakh on the initiative of Anna Hakobyan, spouse of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The Foreign Ministry made a statement, noting that this initiative is not consistent with the mandate of Russia as a co-chair country of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The visits to the NagornoKarabakh region and other occupied Azerbaijani territories without agreeing with the Azerbaijani side are considered illegal, and the names of the individuals who make these visits are included to the list of undesirable people of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Since Azerbaijan has created the list of undesirable people, the number of visits to the occupied lands of Azerbaijan has significantly decreased.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict 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 and seven surrounding regions.

During the battles, 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.

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, Armenia continues to pursue its aggressive policy.