Great Britain, London /corr. Trend G.Ahmadova, A.Gasimova / The member of the Chamber of Community of the British Parliament, Steven Pound, said that he would like to visit Baku after his scandalous visit to the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic which is in reality the occupied territory of Azerbaijan.
"I would like to visit Azerbaijan, but due to my visit to Karabakh, I can not do this," Pound mentioned in a response to the protest letter of the representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora in London.
Pound and several of his colleagues visited Karabakh at the end of last month. After his visit Pound said publicly that Karabakh has been Armenian land for millenniums, causing the Azerbaijani diaspora in London to protest.
A member of the Azerbaijani diaspora in London reported to Trend that after the protest letter, Pound mitigated his position and promised to deeply study the issue and expressed his consent to fight for objectivity.
Commenting on Pound's statement, the Press Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, Khazar Ibrahim, did not exclude the possibility of permitting the British parliamentarian to visit Azerbaijan.
"He illegally visited Azerbaijani territories. In addition, if he has positive intentions and wants to recognize his error, the issue of permitting him to visit Azerbaijan may be considered," Khazar Ibrahim said.
The British parliamentarian said that his visit to Karabakh in September was aimed at only becoming familiarized with the realities there. In Karabakh he was received by the so-called Speaker of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's Parliament, Ashot Gulian.
The protest letter sent to Pound, after his statement that Karabakh is Armenian territory, provided historical facts testifying that Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan, proof of ethnical cleansing of Azerbaijanis in Karabakh, Khojali, and other Azerbaijani regions.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Since 1992 Armenia has occupied 20% of Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.