Azernews.Az

Journalists are personally liable for making trips to Nagorno Karabakh, even for research purposes, the German embassy in Azerbaijan said while commenting on two German journalists’ illegal visit to the occupied Azerbaijani region.

"The German Foreign Ministry, in its recommendations on security measures while traveling abroad posted on its official website, said it does not advise visits to Nagorno Karabakh," the embassy told the Baku-based Trend news agency. "It stressed that people with a visa in their passports or an entry stamp [of Nagorno Karabakh] will not get a visa to Azerbaijan."

German journalists Richard Kiessler and Knut Teske, who arrived in Armenia to enquire about the country’s position on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, further headed to the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia, Armenia Today reported.

The embassy also stressed that Germany's stance on the non-recognition of the so-called Nagorno Karabakh Republic remains unchanged.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has instructed the country's embassy in Germany to study the issue, the ministry said.

Nagorno Karabakh has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended a war that killed an estimated 30,000 people and ousted up to one million Azerbaijanis from their homes. The separatist regime in Nagorno Karabakh declared so-called independence at the time of the Soviet collapse in 1991, but it has not been recognized by the world community.

This story is published by AzerNEWS Weekly under a project funded by the Foundation for State Assistance to the Development of the Media under the President of the Azerbaijan Republic.