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AZERBAIJAN BANS 335 FOREIGN NATIONALS OVER VISITS TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Aug 2 2013
BAKU - Agence France-Presse
Azerbaijan on Aug. 2 banned 335 foreign nationals - including
European lawmakers, journalists and academics - from entering the
country over visits they allegedly made to the disputed territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Azerbaijani foreign ministry released a list - including several
deputies from France's National Assembly, a member of the British
House of Lords and a Spanish opera singer - of people declared personae
non grata in the oil-rich former Soviet state. All those on the list
had "broken the law on Azerbaijan's state borders and disrespected
the national sovereignty and territorial unity of Azerbaijan,"
the ministry said in a statement. Armenia-backed separatists seized
Nagorn0-Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a 1990s war that killed 30,000
people. Despite years of negotiations since a 1994 ceasefire, the
two sides have still not signed a peace deal.
Nagorno-Karabakh is still recognised as part of Azerbaijan by the
United Nations and anyone visiting the territory only accessible by
road from Armenia risks being blacklisted by Baku.
Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the disputed region by force
if negotiations do not yield results, while Armenia has vowed to
retaliate against any military action.
Ruled by strongman President Ilham Aliyev, who took over when his
father Heydar, a former KGB officer and Communist-era boss, died in
2003, Azerbaijan is gearing up for presidential elections this autumn.
Human rights activists have accused the government of stepping up a
campaign to stifle opposition and strangle dissent in the run-up to
the poll.
August/02/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/azerbaijan-bans-335-foreign-nationals-over-visits-to-nagorno-karabakh.aspx?pageID=238&nID=51952&NewsCatID=353
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Aug 2 2013
BAKU - Agence France-Presse
Azerbaijan on Aug. 2 banned 335 foreign nationals - including
European lawmakers, journalists and academics - from entering the
country over visits they allegedly made to the disputed territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Azerbaijani foreign ministry released a list - including several
deputies from France's National Assembly, a member of the British
House of Lords and a Spanish opera singer - of people declared personae
non grata in the oil-rich former Soviet state. All those on the list
had "broken the law on Azerbaijan's state borders and disrespected
the national sovereignty and territorial unity of Azerbaijan,"
the ministry said in a statement. Armenia-backed separatists seized
Nagorn0-Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a 1990s war that killed 30,000
people. Despite years of negotiations since a 1994 ceasefire, the
two sides have still not signed a peace deal.
Nagorno-Karabakh is still recognised as part of Azerbaijan by the
United Nations and anyone visiting the territory only accessible by
road from Armenia risks being blacklisted by Baku.
Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the disputed region by force
if negotiations do not yield results, while Armenia has vowed to
retaliate against any military action.
Ruled by strongman President Ilham Aliyev, who took over when his
father Heydar, a former KGB officer and Communist-era boss, died in
2003, Azerbaijan is gearing up for presidential elections this autumn.
Human rights activists have accused the government of stepping up a
campaign to stifle opposition and strangle dissent in the run-up to
the poll.
August/02/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/azerbaijan-bans-335-foreign-nationals-over-visits-to-nagorno-karabakh.aspx?pageID=238&nID=51952&NewsCatID=353