Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 13 / Trend T. Jafarov /
Iran is the second home for Azerbaijani people. Azerbaijanis can always arrive in Iran, Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pakaein said. He was commenting on the memorandum on the simplified border-crossing by the citizens living in the Azerbaijani and Iranian border regions cancelled by the Azerbaijani Parliament. This is stated in the Iranian embassy's letter, sent to Trend on Thursday.
Iran has always supported the mutual visits of citizens of the two countries and tried to simplify the procedure, the ambassador said.
"Iran has unilaterally abolished visa regime for Azerbaijani citizens since Feb. 2010 and the decision is still valid," he said.
He said that the Azerbaijani Parliament's decision on the abolition of the memorandum between the two countries will not create obstacles for the trips to Iran.
"This will prolong the procedure when the population, living in the border areas of the two countries, is trading," he said.
Earlier, the Azerbaijani parliament has cancelled a memorandum regarding simplified border crossings by Azerbaijani and Iranian citizens residing in border areas as its term expired in early December.
The memorandum impacts upon those citizens of the two countries that live in an area 45 kilometres from the Azerbaijani-Iranian border.
The Azerbaijani Parliament discussed the cancellation of a law dated March 1, 2006 that approved a memorandum between the Azerbaijani and Iranian governments regarding simplified rules of arrival and departure of Azerbaijani and Iranian citizens permanently residing in Nakhchivan.