The politicization of tourism by Armenia and using this sphere for political purposes is unacceptable and this shows that Armenia pursues the policy of annexation of Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, acting spokesperson of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend on Nov.4. He was commenting on the Armenian media reports, which claimed that a stand dedicated to Nagorno-Karabakh is operating as part of Armenian pavilion at the World Travel Market exhibition in London.
However, the event’s organizer Reed Exhibitions company said on Nov.3 that the separatist regime in Nagorno-Karabakh will in no case be represented at World Travel Market exhibition. The message came as a reply to the letter of Azerbaijani embassy in UK.
Hikmet Hajiyev said that Armenia, under various pretexts, tries to justify its failure by trying to present the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh regime and the so-called Karabakh Tourism Development Agency with a separate stand at international tourism exhibitions.
“The participation of the Nagorno-Karabakh regime created in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories at the international tourism exhibition in Italy’s Rimini was prevented,” he added.
Hajiyev said that by resorting to another provocative action and by creating a stand in the pavilion of Tourism Department of Armenia’s Economy Ministry, Armenian side tries to present this as presentation of tourism sphere of the Nagorno-Karabakh regime.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council’s four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
/Trend/
