Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

People's Artist of Moldova appealed to Azerbaijan to exclude his name from the Foreign Ministry's "black list".

Constantin Moscovici noted in his written appeal that he visited the occupied Azerbaijani territories as part of a festival in 2009, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev said on February 8.

Moscovici said with regret that he didn't have any particular purpose, adding that his position regarding Azerbaijan's territorial integrity coincides with Moldova's official position and asking the Azerbaijani government to remove his name from the "black list".

He made a commitment to never violate Azerbaijan's laws again.

The Ministry will consider his written appeal.

Moscovici paid an illegal visit to Azerbaijan's occupied territories to participate in an event called "Celebrating the Liberation of Karabakh".

Earlier, famous Italian singer Al Bano was removed from Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's list of undesirable persons.

Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan which are 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 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 that are occupied by Armenia, calling it contradictory to international laws.

The Foreign Ministry 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.