Azerbaijan Fury Over Karabakh President’s Britain Visit

BAKU (AFP) — Plans by the president of Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) Bako Sahakian to visit London have sparked fury in Baku, with the foreign ministry summoning the British ambassador in protest.

“Azerbaijan has sent a note of protest to Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office,” the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

The previous day Azerbaijan called in British ambassador Irfan Siddiq to attack a plan by the NKR president to travel to London for a speaking engagement.

President Sahakian is due to visit the London think tank Chatham House next Wednesday to brief an invitation-only audience on “the domestic political situation and share his views on regional security and relations,” the organization said.

British authorities sought to distance themselves from the visit, saying the Sahakian was travelling to Britain independently.

“The UK does not recognise the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh republic and the UK government has no contact with any of its representatives,” ambassador Siddiq told journalists in the capital Baku.

In May, Baku summoned France’s ambassador and handed him a protest note over a French visit by Sahakian.