British MPs’ Fact-finding Visit to Nagorno Karabakh
Assa Irada, Azerbaijan
27 Oct. 2004
The issue on recognition of the separatist Karabakh regime was not
discussed during the visit by British parliament members to Khankandi
on October 22, as the UK government’s position on the issue remains
unchanged, G. Matsen, head of the British parliamentary delegation,
said upon completion of the visit to Nagorno Karabakh region of
Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan should not be concerned by this as this was a fact-finding
visit, the British embassy in Baku told AssA-Irada.
A delegation comprising Vice Speaker of the British House of Lords
Baroness Cox and 4 members of the House visited Nagorno Karabakh
through Yerevan on October 20 without prior permission from the
Azerbaijani government.
The Karabakh Liberation Organization put a black wreath in front of the
British embassy in Baku in a protest against the visit on the same day.
Armenia occupied former autonomous Nagorno-Karabakh region and also
seven other Azerbaijani districts in 1991-94 war, forcing over 700,000
Azerbaijanis to leave their homes. Despite an armistice signed in May
1994, no final solution has been achieved to the conflict between the
two countries.