Eurasianet.org appealed to Azerbaijani MFA concerning its journalist's visit to Nagorno-Karabakh
By Rashid Shirinov
Azerbaijan does not agree with most of the articles published about the country on Eurasianet.org and considers them biased. However, given that Eurasianet.org sent a preliminary appeal to Azerbaijan about the visit of its journalist to the occupied lands, as well as the respect for the laws and territorial integrity of the country, and based on the principles of respect for freedom of media, there was no objection to the visit of the journalist, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev told Trend on June 12.
He made the remarks commenting on the information in social networks about the visit of a Eurasianet.org correspondent Joshua Kucera to the Armenia-occupied lands of Azerbaijan.
Hajiyev noted that on May 25 and 30, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry received two official letters signed by the Director General of Eurasianet.org on Kucera’s visit to Nagorno-Karabakh on June 2-9.
“The letter expressed respect for the laws of Azerbaijan and recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan. The letter also noted that this visit in no case implies recognition of any status of Karabakh or disrespect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan,” the spokesman said.
He added that the letters were accepted as an application for accreditation of media representatives in Azerbaijan.
Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war in early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war. Large-scale hostilities ended with a сeasefire in 1994, but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
All unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia are considered illegal, and any individuals paying such visits without the consent of Azerbaijan are included in its Foreign Ministry's list of undesirable persons.
---
Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz