Edward Nalbandian: Azerbaijan`s policy on reducing travel to Karabakh gives the opposite effect
ArmInfo."Baku is doing everything to ensure that trips to Karabakh are reduced, but their actions have a completely opposite effect, the number of trips is
increasing," Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated at
the September 13 sitting of the National Assembly. Nalbandian also
noted that after the arrest of Lapshin, a group of 10 bloggers
visited Artsakh and in the near future another group is going to
Karabakh to take part in the festival of wine.
Regarding the safety of bloggers, the minister noted that Azerbaijan is unpredictable and
it is difficult to give any forecast regarding their actions.
The minister noted that the "black lists" of Azerbaijan and the fact
of returning from the airports of people with Armenian surnames also
gives the opposite effect to their expectations. Not only the
Armenian Foreign Ministry, but also other countries, negatively
reacted to such behavior of Baku.
To recall, a citizen of Israel and Russia, blogger Alexander Lapshin
was sentenced to three years in prison by the Baku Grave Crimes Court
on July 20, 2017. Even a public "remorse" in the courtroom for
visiting Artsakh, a statement on the need to resolve the Karabakh
conflict within the framework of Azerbaijan's interests, did not help
the blogger avoid the Azerbaijani "justice". Recently, however, Ilham
Aliyev pardoned the blogger and he was released from arrest.