The ABCNews.com page featuring Nagorno-Karabakh

BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

ABCNews.com removed a segment of a feature that recommended traveling to Nagorno-Karabakh as one the “Great Offbeat Places to Go in 2012.”

In a travel segment posted on Sunday on abcnews.com entitled “7 Great Offbeat Places to Go in 2012” ranked Nagorno-Karabakh as one of the places to visit during the year. On Tuesday afternoon, however, the piece was re-titled “6 Great Offbeat Places to Go in 2012” and the section on Nagorno-Karabakh was extracted from the original. Reader comments were not extracted from the Web site.

“Stay at the recently-built Armenia Hotel in the capital, Stepanakert, and use the city as your base to explore the region. Go hiking through snow-topped mountains and fields of yellow and red flowers. Feast on shish kebob and grilled vegetables. If you’re staying with a local, don’t be surprised if you’re offered homemade mulberry vodka with breakfast,” recommended the post.

“Don’t miss the Gandzasar Monastery, meaning ‘hilltop treasure,’ built in the 10th century. Visit it at night to see it lit up in the darkness,” added the feature.

News.Az reported that the Azeri Foreign Ministry has urged the Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington to investigate the matter, according to Azeri foreign ministry spokesperon Elman Abdullayev.

While Asbarez is following up on this developing story with ABC News, readers are encouraged to go to the article’s comment section and ask why the section about Nagorno-Karabakh was removed.