ОШИБКА НА САЙТЕ NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: НАГОРНЫЙ КАРАБАХ ОТМЕЧЕН КАК НЕЗАВИСИМОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВО

05.08.2009 [15:33]
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Берлин, 5 августа (АЗЕРТАДЖ). На сайте популярного издания National Geographic помещена карта Азербайджана, на которой административные границы его нагорно-карабахского региона выделены форматом государственных границ, в то время как на карте Грузии и Молдовы никак не обозначены границы аналогичных сепаратистских областей - Абхазии, Южной Осетии и Приднестровья. Данное отношение издателей National Geographic к Азербайджанскому государству и его территориальной целостности не может не вызывать сожаление. В целях устранения этой ошибки призываем наших граждан отправить в редакцию издания по адресам [email protected] и [email protected] электронное письмо следующего содержания:

To the Editor of National Geographic:

The map of Azerbaijan in http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps contains a serious error, which requires your immediate attention. It shows the Nagorno-Karabakh province of Azerbaijan marked with state borders creating the wrong impression that it is an independent state. Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh is an illegitimate separatist entity, it is not recognized by any country in the world, even by Armenia. On the contrary, international community as well as major and reputable international organizations, such as the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, NATO and others, have unequivocally recognized this province to be an unalienable part of Azerbaijan Republic currently occupied by Armenia.

At the same time, the administrative borders of Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia provinces, two other separatist regions in the South Caucasus, which are recognized by Russia and Nicaragua, are rightfully not marked on your map in any format whatsoever. Likewise, Moldova’s breakaway Transnister province is not marked either. National Geographic’s granting “state borders” to one secessionist province while treating differently other similar cases is, first, discriminatory towards Azerbaijan and, second, detrimental to the ongoing peace process in the region under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, since it precludes the outcome of negotiations (obviously, the unlikely outcome). This is certainly damaging to the peace process, which is aimed at the resolution of the conflict based on the fundamental principle of territorial integrity of states and internal self-determination of national minorities in Europe in full compliance with the Helsinki Final Act of 1975.

I urge you to treat Azerbaijan in the same manner as Georgia and Moldova, respect its territorial integrity. Therefore, I call you to replace map 1 (current map: http://usazeris.org/integrity/national%20geographic%20map%201%20-%20incorrect.jpg)

with map 2 (suggested map: http://usazeris.org/integrity/national%20geographic%20map%202%20-%20correct.jpg). See also below the current incorrect map and the suggested correct one:

In the past, similar mistakes were made by other Internet resources, such as Economist.com, Deutsche Welle, BBC, BMI, MTC, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, to mention just the few. After having drawn their attention to those mistakes, they demonstrated full cooperation and promptly corrected the mistakes. I believe that National Geographic will demonstrate the same level of cooperation and replace the wrong map with the one suggested above.

Looking forward to seeing the changes in your website.

Sincerely,

[Впишите здесь Ваше имя и фамилию на английском языке]

Вугар Сеидов,

собкор АЗЕРТАДЖ

Берлин