Azernews.Az

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Baku removed another European official from its list of undesirable persons following an official appeal.

Former European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby has been listed off from Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's "black list", Hikmet Hajiyev, spokesman for the ministry confirmed.

Semneby, who serves currently as Swedish envoy to Afghanistan, sent a letter of appeal to Baku asking for his removal from the list of persona non grata of the Foreign Ministry.

The reason behind Semneby's inclusion in the "black list" was his unofficial visit to Azerbaijan's occupied territories. The visit took place on the eve of the end of his tenure as an EU special representative and reportedly aimed to help him "better understand" the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Since any visit to the occupied lands without prior approval from Baku is considered a grave violation of Azerbaijan's law and disrespect to the country's territorial integrity, Semneby was added to the list of undesirables.

Semneby expressed his regret for visiting Azerbaijan’s occupied lands without notifying the Azerbaijani authorities in advance and apologized to Baku.

"After considering the appeal, we decided to remove Semneby’s name from the "black list" and he was permitted to take part in the 3rd Global Shared Societies Forum in Baku on April 28-29," Hajiyev said.

If there is no official permission from Baku, any visit to the occupied lands of Azerbaijan is automatically assessed as illegal and the visitor is immediately included in the persona non grata list.

The Foreign Ministry and diplomatic missions pay special attention to any illegal activity in the occupied areas of Azerbaijan. Work is constantly carried out to prevent such illegal actions.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats against unauthorized visits to those territories which remain under Armenian occupation calling them contradictory to international law.

Some 435 persons have been included in the ministry's undesirable persons list so far, Hajiyev said earlier in February.

The ministry reminds constantly all nationals of foreign countries wishing to travel to Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan that due to the occupation by Armenian armed forces that these areas are temporarily out of the control of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan's internationally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh territory has become a conflict zone following Armenia's aggression in the early 1990s. As a result of Armenia's armed invasion, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory fell under Armenia's occupation. Although the OSCE has attempted to foster a peaceful resolution to this conflict Armenia has remained persistent in its aggressive stance.

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