Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has excluded a Bulgarian traveler from the list of foreigners, who are persona non-grata in the country.

Bulgarian citizen Valentin Dreharski, an employee of "Besttechnia" company and a traveler, has been removed from the list of undesirable people, who illegally visited the Azerbaijani lands occupied by Armenia, the Foreign Ministry told Trend on November 10.

Dreharski sent a letter to the ministry, in which he expressed respect for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan. The traveler noted that he was unaware of the illegality of his trip.

In his letter, Dreharski apologized to the Azerbaijani people and added that his visit wasn’t aimed at promoting the illegal regime in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories.

His letter was thoroughly considered and a decision was made to remove his name from the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s ‘black list ‘.

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. Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions are temporarily out of the control of Azerbaijan as a result of Armenia’s aggression.

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 list of persona non grata banned from visiting Azerbaijan includes MPs, media persons, businessmen, entertainers, and others, who violated Azerbaijan’s borders and showed disrespect to the sovereignty and territorial unity of the country.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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