Turkish intellectual says unaware of probe opened after Karabakh visit

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ufuk Uras, a former member of the parliament from an opposition party, has said he is unaware of any Turkish investigation into his and three other people's recent visit to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), Eurasianet.org said in an article.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said earlier that Turkey has opened a criminal investigation into the four prominent intellectuals after they visited Karabakh, raising questions about whether Ankara could acquiesce to Azeri demands to extradite the Turkish nationals.

Çavuşoğlu announced the investigation after meeting Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on November 30, accusing politician Ufuk Uras, writer Sait Çetinoğlu and journalists Ali Bayramoğlu and Erol Katırcıoğlu of illegally entering Karabakh without Azeri permission.

However, Uras, a former member of parliament from an opposition party, said he was unaware of any Turkish investigation and that he and the others had been summoned in October to give testimony to an Istanbul prosecutor at the request of Azeri authorities. Çavuşoğlu may have been referring to this questioning, he said.

The group in September visited Karabakh in an effort to draw attention to a conflict that threatens regional stability, Uras said.

“We went to better understand the situation and to [support] diplomacy for the issue, for it to be discussed at the table and settled peacefully,” he said. “Creating a taboo around this does not make it a matter that cannot be discussed.”