Azernews.Az

By Trend

Member of Irish Chess Federation delegation Kevin O’Connell has been removed from the list of undesirable persons of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry.

“Kevin O’Connell, sending a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reaffirmed his full respect to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders, inter alia, the laws and regulations of Azerbaijan,” said the website of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry.

He stressed that his visit to Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia was not intentional and he was unaware about the consequences of this visit.

Kevin O’Connell expressed his apology to the government and people of Azerbaijan for an illegal visit to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and attested that he will refrain from such visits to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in the future.

Against the background of aforementioned, he asked from the relevant authorities of Azerbaijan to give an authorization for his visit to the country to participate in the 42nd World Chess Olympiad and the 87th FIDE Congress to be held in Baku from August 20 till September 20.

Kevin O’Connell's appeal was properly considered and the decision was made to issue a visa for his visit to Azerbaijan.

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 districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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