Trend, Azerbaijan
Dec 20 2012

Ministry of Communications: Deployment of telecommunications services
in Nagorno-Karabakh impossible without permission of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 20th / Trend, H. Valiyev /

The deployment of telecommunications services in Nagorno-Karabakh is
illegal and cannot be done without permission from Azerbaijan,
Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies
told Trend on Thursday, commenting on the statement of Rostelecom
Vice-President Naum Marder about the possibility of launching
telecommunication services in the occupied territories made during his
visit to Yerevan.

The ministry said there were many cases in which companies deployed
their services in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

“In this regard, the Azerbaijani government made official statements
about the inadmissibility of such steps without the permission of
Azerbaijan. In many cases, the activities of these companies were
terminated,” the ministry said.

Earlier Armenian mass media spread information about the possibility
of the deployment of operating services in the occupied territories of
Nagorno-Karabakh, referencing Rostelecom’s (Russia’s largest operator)
Vice President Naum Marder.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the
Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the U.S. are
currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions regarding the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.