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Baku removes Swiss citizen's name from personas non grata list

10 January 2020 14:40 (UTC+04:00)
Baku removes Swiss citizen's name from personas non grata list

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has removed from its personas non grata list the name of Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier who had illegally visited Azerbaijan’s Armenian-occupied territories, the ministry said in its official website on January 9.

The ministry’s moves comes after Nicollier addressed a letter to Baku asking for the removal of his name from the list of foreign citizens who illegally visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

In his letter, the Swiss citizen emphasized his respect for the sovereignty of Azerbaijan. Nicollier underlined that he was unaware of the consequences of the visit.

Due to continuing occupation by the Armenian forces, Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent seven occupied regions are temporarily out of Azerbaijan's control.

Any visit without the consent of Azerbaijan to the above-mentioned territories, which are internationally recognized as an integral part of Azerbaijan is considered as a violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and as a breach of national legislation, as well as relevant norms and principles of international law.

Unless a visa or an official warrant is issued by Azerbaijani authorities, the government of Azerbaijan condemns any visit by foreign citizens to the occupied territories which are de jure part of Azerbaijan under Armenian control.

Azerbaijan considers entering these territories through Armenia a violation of its visa and migration policy. Foreign citizens who enter these territories will be permanently banned from entering Azerbaijan and will be included on the list of "undesirable people" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan.

In case of necessity, appropriate legal actions will be taken with regard to these persons. The work is constantly carried out to prevent such illegal actions.

As of 11 October 2019, the list of people declared personae non grate included 850 people.

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.

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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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