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We present head of the Information and Public Relations Department of NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs Armen Sargsyan’s Interview to Panorama.am.

- We often hear about the foreigners’ increasing interest for Nagorno Karabakh Republic and the growing number of the tourists visiting NKR. Are there any data for 2015?

- The data for the first three months of the year already surpass the last years’ indicators. 906 foreign citizens from 38 various countries visited the Nagorno Karabakh Republic during January-March of the current year. In comparison with the previous years, it surpasses the same period of 2014 with 34 people; January-March, 2013 – with 92 people; and indicators of 2012 – with 360 people. Therefore, the number of tourists who have visited the NKR in the first three months of this year is by 40% more than that of the same period of 2012.

The geography of tourists visiting Azerbaijan is interesting, too. In 2012, tourists from 86 various countries visited the NKR, in 2013 – 77 countries and in 2014 – 78 countries.

- Are the Armenian citizens included?
 
- No. This statistics refers to foreign tourists only. The Armenian citizens are not included, and they are not counted due to the lack of passport control operations.

- Reportages about the Artsakh people’s life and routine in the blockade of Azerbaijan can frequently be found in the international media. Do the foreign journalists frequently visit NKR?

- For the first three months of 2015 41 foreign journalists were accredited in the NKR MFA Information and Public Relations Department, while the same period of the last year was marked by only four foreign journalists’ accreditation. This indicates the growing interest for the region.

- The Azerbaijani side often makes obstacles for the journalists’ work, who objectively cover Karabakh conflict, and declares that foreign citizens, including journalists, must apply to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan to get a permission to visit NKR and carry out their professional duties there. How would you comment on the claim?

- Only the visas issued by the NKR authorities have legal force on the territory of the NKR. The NKR entrance visas are issued to foreign citizens only at the NKR Permanent Representation in the Republic of Armenia or at the Consular Service of the NKR Foreign Ministry. All the other documents, issued by other countries, have no legal force on the NKR territory and are not considered.

The same applies for the journalists’ accreditation. The permission to carry out journalistic work on the territory of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic is issued by the NKR MFA Information and Public Relations Department. Accreditation, granted in other countries, including Azerbaijan and even Armenia, is not valid on the territory of NKR, and cannot serve as a guarantee for getting a permission to carry out professional activities in NKR. 

Therefore, the only legal way to be and/or carry out professional work on NKR territory is getting visas and accreditation cards at NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

- Then would you describe, please, the procedure of accreditation of journalists?

- Those journalists, who want to carry out professional activities on the NKR territory, should submit a letter from the editor-in-chief of their media organization to the NKR Foreign Minister. The letter should include the period of stay and purpose of the visit, as well as information regarding which officials of NKR the journalist intends to interview.

The journalist needs to get a visa to enter NKR, and accreditation at NKR MFA Information and Public Relations Department – to carry out professional activities. Detailed information regarding the procedure is available at NKR Foreign Ministry website (http://nkr.am/en/the-procedure-of-accreditation-of-journalists/145/).

- The Azerbaijani side also frequently intimidates foreigners saying that it is dangerous to be on the territory of NKR, in order to dissuade them from visiting it. How would you comment on this?

- To put it mildly, those statements are totally untrue. The crime rate is so low in the NKR that it can compete with the Scandinavian countries. For the whole post-war period of the NKR there was not registered a single case involving foreign nationals.

Azerbaijan had better think about the foreigners’ security on its own territory. The state agencies of various countries have more than once issued statements about the threat of acts of terrorism in Azerbaijan, recommending their citizens to refrain from visiting that country.

- How do you feel about those tourists who visited NKR and then turned to Azerbaijan to exclude their names from the ‘black list’?

- Quite normal. The NKR does not create such obstacles and therefore it is their personal concern to ask the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan to remove their names from its ‘black list.’ Unlike Azerbaijan, NKR respects each person’s freedom of movement.