ABULFAZ GARAYEV: "I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT WISE AND SERIOUS INVESTORS WOULD INVEST INTO TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE OCCUPIED LANDS"

Today.Az
27 September 2008 [15:59] – Today.Az
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfaz Garayev does not
believe that serious investments could be made into the development of
the tourism sector of Nagorno Karabakh and other occupied Azerbaijani
lands.

"I do not believe that wise and serious investors would invest into
the development of tourism in the occupied lands. Only representatives
of the Armenian lobby can invest there", the Minister told reporters
on Saturday, Novosti-Azerbaijan reports.

The Minister called the proposal of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan
to invest into Nagorno Karabakh as "an impossible dream".

"This is an open occupational policy, which we are facing every day",
said Abulfaz Garayev.

He said several states especially fix in their tourism references
that these lands are occupied.

Asked about the expected visit of the European mission on the facts
of destruction of historical and cultural memorials in the occupied
lands, the Minister said that the Azerbaijani side has already taken
all measures for it.

"Again, the Armenia and international organizations have taken steps
to change some of the provisions. But we successfully resisted this
and the Foreign Ministry openly voiced its position on the said issue,
according to which the mission must act equally both in Azerbaijan
and in the Azerbaijani occupied lands and in Armenia", concluded he.