Baku removes Serbian journalist's name from black list
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has excluded the name of the Serbian journalist from the list of undesirable people.
Serbian journalist Slobodan Samardzija was included in the list of undesirable people of the Azerbaijani foreign ministry in connection with his illegal visit in March to the territories of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia.
Samardzija has appealed to the Azerbaijani foreign ministry with a request to exclude his name from the list.
In his letter, the journalist expressed regret in connection with his illegal visit, noting that the visit took place at the insistence of the Armenian side.
Samardzija also stressed that he respects Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
After considering Samardzija’s appeal, his name was excluded from the list of undesirable people.
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry and diplomatic missions pay special attention to illegal activities in the occupied areas of Azerbaijan. The work is constantly carried out to prevent illegal actions and visits.
Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia are considered illegal, and individuals who pay such visits are included in Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's "black list".
Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats against such unauthorized visits to those territories under Armenian occupation; calling them contradictory to international laws.
Moreover, Azerbaijan has recently created an information portal to prevent illegal visits to Azerbaijan’s occupied territory – Nagorno-Karabakh.
The goal is to inform the world community about the truth of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and prevent illegal visits to the Armenian occupied territories.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that caused a brutal war in the early 1990s. Long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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