Foreign Ministry: Unreasonable To Talk About Visa-free Regime Between Azerbaijan and Armenia
A spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva clarified the issue related to the visas between Azerbaijan and Armenia, according to Azerbaijan in Focus, reporting Trend News.
“First of all, it is important to establish diplomatic relations between the countries to talk about visits of citizens and visa-free regime between Azerbaijan and Armenia. And to establish diplomatic relations, it is necessary to mutually recognize and respect sovereignty and territorial integrity, inviolability of borders,” the spokesperson added.
“An international agreement on the regulation of trips has not been signed between the two countries,” Abdullayeva added. “So, at this stage, it is unreasonable to talk about a mutual visa-free regime.”
Following over a month of military action to liberate its territories from Armenian occupation from late September to early November 2020, Azerbaijan has pushed Armenia to sign the surrender document. A joint statement on the matter was made by the Azerbaijani president, Armenia’s PM, and the president of Russia.
A complete ceasefire and a cessation of all hostilities in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was introduced on Nov. 10, 2020.
Armenian Armed Forces launched a large-scale military attack on positions of the Azerbaijani army on the front line, using large-caliber weapons, mortars, and artillery on September 27. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-offensive along the entire front.
Back in July 2020, the Armenian Armed Forces violated the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijan’s Tovuz district. As a result of Azerbaijan’s retaliation, the opposing forces were silenced. The fighting continued the following days as well. Azerbaijan lost a number of military personnel members, who died fighting off the attacks of the Armenian Armed Forces.
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, the Armenian Armed Forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.