OSCE MG co-chair countries top Baku’s “black list”
By Sara Rajabova
The co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, engaged in settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, and developed European countries have topped the Azerbaijani foreign ministry’s “black list”.
The “black list” of foreign citizens who illegally visited territories under Armenian occupation included 501 people from 49 countries, according to the research conducted by the dailykarabakh website.
Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan are considered illegal and individuals who pay such visits are included in the ministry’s “black list”.
The Minsk Group co-chair, Russia, tops the list with 133 people, followed by the other co-chair, the United States.
Germany completes the trio with 38 people. Thirty-six people from Italy and 30 people from other Minsk group co-chair country, France, also illegally visited Azerbaijan’s occupied lands. Next on the “black list” is Great Britain, with 19 people, and Switzerland, with10.
Moreover, 11 citizens of Georgia, two from Turkey and three from Iran have visited Azerbaijani lands without country’s permission.
Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly one million were displaced as a result of the war.
Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994, but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. have produced no results so far.
Despite repeated calls, Armenia defying all principles of the international law has been holding the Azerbaijani territories under occupation. So, currently these areas are temporarily out of the control of Azerbaijan.
Therefore, any visit without Azerbaijan’s consent to the above-mentioned territories, which are internationally recognized as an integral part of Azerbaijan, is considered a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and a breach of both national legislation and the relevant norms and principles of international law.
Baku has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats against unauthorized visits to territories under Armenian occupation, stating that such visits violate international law. The country urges all foreign nationals to refrain from traveling to the occupied territories in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
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