Azernews.Az

The Azerbaijani government has warned international observers against monitoring Sunday’s so-called "parliament elections" in Upper Garabagh, an Azerbaijani region under Armenian occupation where ethnic Armenians are running a self-proclaimed republic.
"The so-called ‘parliament elections’ to be held by the separatist regime of the Upper Garabagh are illegal and all international observers wishing to observe the course of these ‘elections’ will be declared persona non grata. Upper Garabagh is Azerbaijan's land and anyone who visited the region without Azerbaijan's permission, is declared persona non grata, and later he cannot visit Azerbaijan," Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov said.
The Armenian media reported that the former OSCE Special Representative for South Caucasus and the incumbent representative of the Paris office of the Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, Maurice Bono, will observe the "elections".
The Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry earlier issued a statement condemning the so-called "elections" in the self-proclaimed republic.
Upper Garabagh is an Azerbaijani region occupied by Armenia since a 1994 cease-fire ended separatist hostilities that killed an estimated 30,000 people and ousted about one million Azerbaijanis from their homes. Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Years of peace talks have brought few tangible results.*