Dutch Ambassador comments on the visit of his colleague in Azerbaijan to Shushi
20:59, 12 November, 2021
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, ARMENPRESS. The visit to Shushi of the Dutch Ambassador to Azerbaijan in July in no way means that by that his country legitimizes or recognizes the present situation in Shushi or Nagorno Karabakh, ARMENPRESS reports Ambassador of the Netherlands to Armenia Nico Schermers said during a forum in Yerevan, answering the question of one of the participants.
One of the students participating in the forum reminded that months ago, on July 9-10, by organizing the visit of Ambassadors and representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Baku to the city of Shushi occupied by the Azerbaijani armed forces, Azerbaijani President Ilham Ali obviously attempted to give some legitimacy to the attempt to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by force, which was accompanied by war crimes against humanity.
In this regard, the student asked, "Don’t you think that the visit of the Dutch Ambassador to Shushi indirectly legitimizes the violations of international law committed by Azerbaijan?"
In response, the Ambassador noted that the Dutch government decided to agree to pay a visit to Shushi to get an understanding of the situation on the ground.
“Any Ambassador in Baku is also accredited in Nagorno Karabakh, unlike the ambassadors accredited in Yerevan. This in turn means that my colleague in Baku can travel to Shushi or other places. It is clear that we are doing this very carefully. We, as the Government of the Netherlands, decided that this visit to Shushi should take place so that we can get an idea of the situation in Shushi. This does not mean that we will do it often or that we will do it easily. And I want to emphasize that this does not mean that we legitimize or recognize the current situation in Shushi or Nagorno Karabakh”, Ambassador Nico Schermers said.