Azer News, Azerbaijan
June 17 2004

Iranian journalists unwilling to visit Armenia until Azerbaijani
lands liberated

Jalal Mahammad, head of the Iranian group of journalists visiting
Baku, told a news conference at the International Press Center on
Thursday that the goal of the visit was to expand relations between
the two countries’ journalists and to inform the Iranian people of
the real political, economic and cultural situation in Azerbaijan.

He said that over the past 10 days spent in Baku, the Iranian
journalists met with employees of both pro-government and opposition
newspapers. The Iranian journalists said that if they were invited to
visit Armenia, they would not do so until the occupied Azerbaijani
lands are liberated.

Asked about the way the Upper Garabagh conflict is covered in Iranian
media, they said they referred to Upper Garabagh as Azerbaijan’s
territory. Touching upon the Iranian-Armenian relations, Iranian
reporters said Armenia has been overstating the issue in an effort to
hurt the relations between Iran and Azerbaijan.