TREND
21.09.2007 18:41:54
British Parliamentarian Believes He Will not be
Permitted to Visit Azerbaijan
Great Britain, London /corr. Trend G.Ahmadova,
A.Gasimova / The member of the Chamber of Community of
the British Parliament, Steven Pound, said that he
would like to visit Baku after his scandalous visit to
the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic which is
in reality the occupied territory of Azerbaijan.
`I would like to visit Azerbaijan, but due to my visit
to Karabakh, I can not do this,’ Pound mentioned in a
response to the protest letter of the representatives
of the Azerbaijani diaspora in London.
Pound and several of his colleagues visited Karabakh
at the end of last month. After his visit Pound said
publicly that Karabakh has been Armenian land for
millenniums, causing the Azerbaijani diaspora in
London to protest.
A member of the Azerbaijani diaspora in London
reported to Trend that after the protest letter, Pound
mitigated his position and promised to deeply study
the issue and expressed his consent to fight for
objectivity.
Commenting on Pound’s statement, the Press Secretary
of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, Khazar Ibrahim,
did not exclude the possibility of permitting the
British parliamentarian to visit Azerbaijan.
`He illegally visited Azerbaijani territories. In
addition, if he has positive intentions and wants to
recognize his error, the issue of permitting him to
visit Azerbaijan may be considered,’ Khazar Ibrahim
said.
The British parliamentarian said that his visit to
Karabakh in September was aimed at only becoming
familiarized with the realities there. In Karabakh he
was received by the so-called Speaker of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s Parliament, Ashot Gulian.
The protest letter sent to Pound, after his statement
that Karabakh is Armenian territory, provided
historical facts testifying that Karabakh belongs to
Azerbaijan, proof of ethnical cleansing of
Azerbaijanis in Karabakh, Khojali, and other
Azerbaijani regions.
The conflict between the two countries of the South
Caucasus began in 1988 due to territorial claims by
Armenia against Azerbaijan. Since 1992 Armenia has
occupied 20% of Azerbaijani land including the
Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding
districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a
ceasefire agreement at which time the active
hostilities ended. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently
holding peaceful negotiations.