Berlin urges parliamentarians to refrain from visits to occupied Azerbaijani territories
By Sara Rajabova
The German Foreign Ministry has called on the Bundestag members to refrain from illegal visits to Azerbaijan's occupied territories.
Berlin responded to the diplomatic note of the Azerbaijani embassy in connection with the illegal visit of German MPs Manfred Grund and Albert Weiler to the Azerbaijani lands that are under Armenian occupation.
Earlier Baku has blacklisted the German MPs for their illegal visit to Azerbaijan's occupied territories.
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's acting spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev said Germany's position on Azerbaijan's territorial integrity is unchanged, noting that the country recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan.
"The German Foreign Ministry constantly urges Bundestag members to avoid such visits and inform them of Azerbaijan's fundamental position in relation to those making such illegal visits," Hajiyev told Trend news agency on September 24.
He said the embassy also appealed with the appropriate letter to the Bundestag and received a reply stating that German MPs' trip cannot be regarded as a visit initiated by the Bundestag. "The foreign ministry and the Bundestag said that its members' visit to the occupied territories was private," Hajiyev said.
He also added that the Azerbaijani embassy in France also intends to take appropriate actions in connection with the visit of a representative of the French Senate to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
Earlier, Baku refused to issue a visa for French MP Guy Teissier for traveling Azerbaijan because of his visits to occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Teissier has not been granted visa for participation in the meeting of Committee of Political Affairs and Security within the 23rd session of the OSCE PA in Baku in late June-early July.
Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia are considered illegal, and the individuals who pay such visits are included in Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's "black list".
The Foreign Ministry in 2013 released a list of 335 people declared 'persona non grata' over illegal visits to the Armenian-occupied territories. Some of these people were removed from the list after appealing to the Azerbaijani government.
Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats about visits to its territories that are occupied by Armenia, calling it contradictory to international laws.
Baku has stated that such visits, paid without prior notification to the relevant authorities of Azerbaijan, are illegal and damage the settlement process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.