Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has published a list of those declared persona non grata over illegal visits to the Armenian-occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

The list includes 335 people whose arrival in the country is considered undesirable, the Foreign Ministry told Trend news agency.

The list, among others, includes member of the House of Lords, British Baroness Caroline Cox, head of the department of international relations of the Russian Institute of Political and Military Analysis Sergey Markedonov, State Duma deputy Maxim Mishchenko, director of the Institute of CIS Countries Konstantin Zatulin, French National Assembly member Francois Rochebloine, members of the National Assembly of France Georges Colombier and Valerie Boyer, singer Montserrat Caballe, and former EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby.

For violation of the law "On State Border" of Azerbaijan and disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, those mentioned in the list are declared personas non grata and denied entry to Azerbaijan.

Baku has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats over visits to the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia, saying this contradicts international law. The Foreign Ministry has stated that such visits, paid without prior notification of the relevant authorities of Azerbaijan, are illegal and damaging to the settlement process on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks aimed at resolving the long-standing conflict, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.