Beeline should stop operating in Azerbaijan's occupied territories

/By AzerNews - Mushvig Mehdiyev/

Baku condemned Beeline - the Russian mobile operator, for its illegal cooperation with an unauthorized communication provider in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

"Beeline's functioning on the Armenia-occupied lands of Azerbaijan is an obvious violation of the International Telecommunication Union rules and regulations," Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Hikmet Hajiyev said.

Hajiyev expressed Baku's deep concerns over Beeline cooperation with Artsakh Telecom, the major mobile network provider in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.

"We called on Beeline to stop its illegal activity in the occupied territories many times and always through diplomatic channels, and the company has yet to heed our calls and respond," Hajiyev said.

Beeline is a brand within the Russian-based telecommunication conglomerate -VimpelCom, the third largest telecommunication operator in Russia. The company entered Armenia's market in 2006 and became fully operational in 2008. Beeline offers services in both Armenia and the occupied territories.

Hajiyev stressed that Beeline's cooperation in the occupied territories with Artsakh Telecom, the provider that is serving since 2002 backed by Yerevan-based VivaCell mobile provider, utterly violates Azerbaijan's telecommunication space and stands in violation of international law.

"Beeline services in our territories ultimately violate Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, sovereignty, and internationally recognized borders," he added.

Hajiyev believes that Beeline's illegal activity contradicts Moscow's political course, since Kremlin officially supports and respects Azerbaijan's territorial immunity, sovereignty and the inviolability of its internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan.

"The issues relating to Beeline's illegal activities will be also discussed by the ITU and other international organizations," he promised.

The ministry prevented many other mobile operators from illegally operating in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories through official appeals. As a result, many network providers have apologized to Baku and announced their withdrawal from any cooperation with any associates operating in Azerbaijan's occupied lands.

In response to Azerbaijan's protest, Beeline reported that its cooperation with Artsakh Telecom is part of the project Beeline-Armenia, adding that its services cover subscribers of local ArmenTel operator.

Azercell and Bakcell --mobile network providers in Azerbaijan -- announced that they will protest Beeline's illegal activities in the occupied lands via a written letter, adding they stand ready to take any further necessary measures.

Azerbaijan bans foreign companies from engaging in any kind of activity in Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions as they remain under Armenian military occupation and that since the early 1990s.

International decision makers unequivocally recognized the occupied territories as part of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. To see Azerbaijan restored within its historical borders, the United Nations Security Council adopted four resolutions urging Armenia to pull its troops out of the country.

The former and incumbent rulers in Yerevan have time and time again turned down calls for peace, preferring instead to revert to violence.