ARMENIAN SEPARATISTS PLANNING ILLEGAL TOURISM FOR ITALIANS IN KARABAKH

news.az
May 19 2010
Azerbaijan

Shusha Armenians have invented a new trick to make it more convenient
for foreign tourists to visit the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

Yerevan has hosted a presentation of the first guidebook on Armenia
and Nagorno-Karabakh in Italian, in connection with which officials
of Azerbaijan have already expressed their displeasure.

Novosti-Armenia reports that the author of a guide, a spokeswoman
for the marketing company Travelmark Nadia Pasqual said the guide is
prepared by Travelmark with the support of the national competitiveness
fund of Armenia and the Office for Tourism of "the government of
Karabakh (an unrecognized breakaway region).

"Italian tourists, of course, are interested in visiting Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh. We need to further promote these trends among the
Italian tourists "- Pasqual said, stressing that the main focus today
is the cultural and religious tourism.

Pasqual added that the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Italy has expressed
his protest on the publication of the Guide, which also included
Nagorno-Karabakh. According to her, "the Azerbaijani Ambassador was
invited to first read the guide and only then draw conclusions."

1news.az contacted spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry
Elkhan Polukhov on this matter who noted that the request has
already been sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Embassy
of Azerbaijan in Italy to study the project of the Italian travel
agencies and Travelmark. It will also be found out whether the
information spread by the Armenian side on behalf of the Italian
travel agency is reliable, since the Armenian media often garble
facts or misinform public.

"This is not the first time that the Armenian side, including the
National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia and the so-called
Office for Tourism attempt to represent Nagorno-Karabakh at different
exhibitions or events", said Coordinator of the National Project of
tourism development in Azerbaijan Faik Gurbatov .

According to him, Armenians have invented a new trick to make it more
convenient for foreign tourists to visit the occupied Azerbaijani
territories.

"Many tourists refuse to visit Nagorno-Karabakh, because then they
become persona non-grata in Azerbaijan, as they have a passport
stamp of having visited Nagorno-Karabakh. And now, to solve this
"uncomfortable" situation, the Armenian side offers the tourists
a loose leaf, which indicates that they have visited the occupied
Azerbaijani territories. So then the tourist can safely throw away
this leaflet while his passport will not a stamp, which means that
nobody knows about his visit to Nagorno-Karabakh ", said Gurbatov.

Gurbatov noted that his organization have repeatedly averted the
attempts of the Armenian side to advertise and present the occupied
Nagorno-Karabakh at international events and the justified indignation
of Azerbaijan has always been understood by the organizers of these
events.

"As for the presentation of the Italian guidebook on Armenia and the
occupied Azerbaijani territories, it is a very serious signal which the
Azerbaijani side will have to investigate it", said Gurbatov. He noted
that through their channels they will explore and seek explanations
from the Italian travel agency, which decided to carry tourists to
the occupied Azerbaijani lands.

A guide on Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh in Italian, consisting of about
350 pages, features " history, culture and religion of Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh", is supplemented by photographs of sights in Armenia
and will "add to a number of Polaris famous Italian tourist guidebooks.