Azernews.Az

British MP, Chairman of the Azerbaijan All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Bob Blackman has criticized a forthcoming visit of Bako Sahakyan, so-called ‘president’ of the unrecognized regime in Azerbaijan`s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, to London.

Blackman told The European Azerbaijan Society that he has already sent a letter of protest to Robin Niblett, Director of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, which invited Sahakyan to speak at the Institute’s event, AzerTac state news agency reported.

“Only last week I was at a book launch commemorating the Khojaly tragedy, so it was a shock to hear that Bako Sahakyan, so-called ‘president’ of the unrecognized occupying regime in Nagorno-Karabakh, has been invited by Chatham House to speak.

The UK government does not recognize the illegal regime in Nagorno-Karabakh however as private individual the UK government has no power to stop Sahakyan from visiting the UK. This is a private visit with no official recognition, however as chair of the Azerbaijan APPG it saddens me to think that somebody who has caused so much suffering is being given a platform to speak at a prestigious institution like Chatham House and would call for this event to be cancelled,” the letter reads.

Chatham House will hold discussions on the situation concerning Nagorno-Karabakh, regional security, and relations between different regional actors in London on July 8.

The Azerbaijani embassy earlier had sent a letter of protest to Chatham House over the planned speech of Bako Saakyan, the head of the separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Responding to Azerbaijan’s embassy to the United Kingdom, the think tank has said the participation of the head of the separatist regime at a Chatham House event by no means implies the recognition of this regime.

In a letter to the embassy the Institute has mentioned that this meeting does not mean approval or recognition of separatist Nagorno-Karabakh.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

Armenia has not yet implemented any of the four U.N. Security Council resolutions urging a pullout from its neighboring country's territories.

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