Armenia arranging illegal tours
A group of 61 tourists on Monday headed from Armenia
to Upper Garabagh, an Azerbaijani region under Armenian occupation,
reports say.
Novosti Armenii news agency quoted Ruben Grigorian of the Rumea travel agency as saying that the tour had been organized as part of "a pilot program on the development of tourism in Garabagh", prepared by the separatist regime, which offered the Armenian authorities to arrange recreation of their citizens there.
According to Grigorian, though the group includes only citizens of Armenia, trips to the region by foreign nationals are planned as well. Such orders have already been placed by Swedish and Canadian nationals, he added.
Upper Garabagh has been occupied by Armenia since a 1994 cease-fire ended hostilities that killed an estimated 30,000 people and ousted about a million Azerbaijanis out of their homes. Years of peace talks have brought little tangible result.
Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian criticized local companies seeking to attract tourists from his country to Turkey, calling on them "not to forget about Armenia and Garabagh" for the sake of making more profit.
Novosti Armenii news agency quoted Ruben Grigorian of the Rumea travel agency as saying that the tour had been organized as part of "a pilot program on the development of tourism in Garabagh", prepared by the separatist regime, which offered the Armenian authorities to arrange recreation of their citizens there.
According to Grigorian, though the group includes only citizens of Armenia, trips to the region by foreign nationals are planned as well. Such orders have already been placed by Swedish and Canadian nationals, he added.
Upper Garabagh has been occupied by Armenia since a 1994 cease-fire ended hostilities that killed an estimated 30,000 people and ousted about a million Azerbaijanis out of their homes. Years of peace talks have brought little tangible result.
Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian criticized local companies seeking to attract tourists from his country to Turkey, calling on them "not to forget about Armenia and Garabagh" for the sake of making more profit.
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