No:522/21, Head of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Leyla Abdullayeva answers the media's question about the names of the liberated territories of Azerbaijan in the “Google maps” application
Answer: We would like to inform you that, through official diplomatic channels the issue has been raised before “Google” Company regarding the fact that in the “Google maps” application, along with the official names of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan in the Azerbaijani language, fake names in the Armenian language are also indicated. A letter was sent to the Company's management regarding the distortion of the names of the territories of Azerbaijan, and the list of official geographical names of the corresponding territories of the country was presented.
At the same time, we would like to remind you that in May of this year we presented a national report prepared jointly with the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan at the annual session of the UN Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN). This report contains a list of names of 4,589 settlements officially standardized and approved in Azerbaijani, English and Russian, as well as the names of 125 geographical objects located in our territories affected by the former Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and which were also distorted.
According to the resolutions adopted within the framework of the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, changes in standardized geographical names by an authorized government body of any state are unacceptable, and such changes cannot be recognized by the UN.
As for the “Google maps” platform, we would like to note that this application is based on the principle of individual requests of users and in this regard, it is very important that our citizens, as well as non-governmental organizations, actively write their opinions on the subject to the company.
The issue is currently in the spotlight and measures are being taken to eliminate distortions.