Turkish Foreign Ministry Urges its Citizens Not to Visit Karabakh

ANKARA — Amid the uproar over the Turkish intellectuals’ visit to Artsakh, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a second statement, calling on the Turkish citizens not to visit Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) without receiving a permission from Azerbaijan, Ermenihaber reported.

The statement said Turkish citizens should avoid visiting Artsakh without notifying the Azerbaijani authorities, since such a visit is against the Azerbaijani laws and that they cannot ensure necessary protection of their citizens due to the absence of the Turkish consulate in Karabakh.

The source reminds that the Turkish ministry issued the first statement on the same topic on 29 September, stating Turkey does not treat the recent trip by four Turkish intellectuals to Artsakh as a

Azerbaijan, last month, ordered a criminal probe and issued international arrest warrants against the four Turkish intellectuals Erol Katircioglu, Sait Cetinoglu, Ali Bayramoglu and Ufuk Uras, accusing them of “illegally crossing Azerbaijan’s state border”.