Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan's ambassador to the UK Fakhraddin Gurbanov has condemned the recent visit of a British photojournalist to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region as an unauthorized visit to Azerbaijani territories.

Gurbanov published an article in the Guardian paper as a response to Taylor-Lind's report in the same daily. The ambassador stresses that all unauthorized visits to the region of Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan are illegal.

As Gurbanov said, Taylor-Lind should rather visit Azerbaijan to witness the plight of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons who were forced to flee their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan which are occupied by Armenia are deemed illegal and individuals paying such visits are included in the 'black list' of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

The Foreign Ministry earlier released a list of 335 people declared 'persona non grata' over illegal visits to the Armenian-occupied territories.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats about visits to its territories occupied by Armenia, saying this contradicts international laws. The Foreign Ministry has stated that such visits, paid without prior notification of 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 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. Armenia continues the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.