French new Interior Minister persona non-grata for Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

France’s new Minister of Internal Affairs Bruno Le Roux, who illegally visited the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia, remains in a list of undesirable persons compiled by the Foreign Ministry.

The remarks were made by the spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev, according to Report news agency.

Le Roux visited the occupied lands in September 2015 in the status of a member of the French Parliament.

Hajiyev said that regardless of the position of a person, the name of every foreigner who violate Azerbaijani laws, territorial integrity and sovereignty by illegally visiting the occupied Azerbaijani territories, are included in the list of undesirable persons.

“The law applies to everyone,” he said.

Le Roux is a member of the so-called French-Karabakh friendship circle. 

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly one million were displaced as a result of the war. Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions are temporarily out of the control of Azerbaijan as a result of Armenia’s aggression.

Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan are considered illegal and individuals who pay such visits are included in the ministry’s “black list”.

The list of persona non grata banned from visiting Azerbaijan includes MPs, media persons, businessmen, entertainers, and others, who violated Azerbaijan’s borders and showed disrespect to the sovereignty and territorial unity of the country.