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Russian musician apologizes to Azerbaijan for illegally visiting occupied lands

Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict Materials 14 February 2018 14:49 (UTC +04:00)
Musician Vitaly Vatulya, a citizen of the Russian Federation and a member of the "Music for Peace" project, addressed a letter to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry asking to remove his name from the "List of foreign citizens who illegally visited the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend Feb. 14.
Russian musician apologizes to Azerbaijan for illegally visiting occupied lands

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14

Trend:

Musician Vitaly Vatulya, a citizen of the Russian Federation and a member of the "Music for Peace" project, addressed a letter to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry asking to remove his name from the "List of foreign citizens who illegally visited the occupied territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend Feb. 14.

In his letter, Vatulya noted that he traveled to Nagorno-Karabakh region within the framework of the "Music for Peace" project in 2015 and was unaware of prohibition of traveling to that area without the consent of the government of Azerbaijan, as well as the consequences of the visit. He underlined that the visit shall not give a meaning of disrespect for the Republic of Azerbaijan and its people.

Vatulya, reaffirming his full respect to the laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan, expressed his apology to the government and people of Azerbaijan for an unauthorized visit to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

He also noted that as a result of the conflict, more than one million Azerbaijanis have become refugees and internally displaced people, and more than 20,000 people have lost their lives.

In this context, Vatulya expressed the intention of the "Music for Peace" project to visit Azerbaijan, especially Jojug Marjanli village in order to organize master classes and perform charity concert programs for Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced people.

The appeal by Vatulya was considered and the decision was made to remove his name from the list.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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