Azerbaijan has declared CNN host, chief cook Anthony Bourdain a persona non grata for traveling to Nagorno-Karabakh, The Washington Post reports.
“Azerbaijan makes it very difficult for its citizens to visit Nagorno-Karabakh. Visiting without permission from the government in Baku is considered a criminal offense. And Azerbaijan’s officials make it very hard for people to reenter the country once they have gone to Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan maintains a list — with more than 700 names — of people from all over the world who are no longer welcome. The list includes government officials, European Union members, journalists and activists.
This week, one more name was added. Bourdain “has been put onto the persona non grata list for his disrespect of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev told Agence France-Presse,” The Washington Post wrote.
The article made a reference to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, noting “peace between the two countries is fragile, at best”.