US envoy visits Nakhchivan, urges respect for cultural sites
NAKHCHIVAN – US Ambassador Matthew Bryza on Thursday concluded a two-day visit to Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan autonomous republic that included meetings with officials, civil society representatives and a visit to Sadarak to see border-crossing improvements funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
"Nakhchivan plays an important role in modern Azerbaijan," said Bryza. "We are collaborating with Nakhchivanis on a range of border security, democracy-strengthening, and education projects, including archaeology, and we seek to do more."
On his first official trip outside Baku in his current position, Ambassador Bryza sought to travel to Julfa to investigate the cemetery where Armenian Khachkars were reportedly destroyed in 2005, an act that has prompted protests by the European Parliament and civil society organizations, as well as Bryza’s immediate and deeply concerned response at the time to senior Azerbaijani officials.
The ambassador’s request to visit Julfa was denied. But authorities in Nakhchivan did discuss the Julfa Khachkars in detail with Bryza and pledged to work with him to facilitate a visit to the Julfa cemetery in coming months.
"As I pledged to do in Washington before arriving as ambassador, I traveled to Nakhchivan to investigate what happened in Julfa.
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