LEADER OF AZERBAIJAN’S EXCLAVE STARTS VISIT TO IRAN
Islamic Republic News Agency
July 14 2008
Iran
Tabriz, East Azarbayjan Province, 14 July: The chairman of the Supreme
Council of the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic [of the Azerbaijani
Republic], Vasif Talibov, arrived in Iran yesterday evening [13 July]
as the head of a high-ranking delegation of the republic’s officials.
According to an IRNA report, upon his arrival via the Jolfa border
checkpoint the chairman of the Supreme Council of the Naxcivan
Autonomous Republic was welcomed by the governor of Jolfa and other
local officials.
Jolfa District has a population of 51,000, is situated 146 km northwest
of Tabriz, the capital city of East Azarbayjan Province, and borders
on the Naxcivan Autonomous Republic and the Republic of Armenia.
Having arrived in Iran, Talibov told correspondents that he was
visiting Iran at the invitation of the Iranian Foreign Ministry
officials. He is due to meet the governor-general of East Azarbayjan
Province in Tabriz, senior officials in Tehran and discuss ways of
expanding bilateral relations.
The Naxcivan Autonomous Republic has a population of 360,000 and is
located 35 km north of Iran’s Jolfa border [as published].
About 96 per cent of the population in this region of the Azerbaijani
Republic are Azerbaijanis, the rest are Russians and Tatars and 1.1
per cent of its population are of Kurdish origin.
The roads and railways of this republic had been closed by the Republic
of Armenia following the war between the Azerbaijani Republic and
Armenia over Nagornyy Karabakh.
The chairman of the Supreme Council of the Naxcivan Autonomous
Republic, Vasif Talibov, is being accompanied by a number of
high-ranking Azerbaijani officials, including the consul-general of
the Azerbaijani Republic in Tabriz.