Official check to be carried out at Embassy under terrorist attack - Tofik Zulfugarov

Baku/28.01.23/Turan: An official of the security service of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Iran, Senior Lieutenant Orkhan Askerov, was killed on January 27 while protecting the lives of Azerbaijani diplomats and their families. Two of his colleagues were injured. Azerbaijanis have watched three videos of the attack and asked: how did the terrorist Yasin Huseynzade manage to enter the Embassy building so easily and shoot the personnel? Had it not been for the heroism of security guard Vasif Tagiyev, the perpetrator would have moved on and climbed to the upper floors, and there could have been far more casualties.

Tofik Zulfugarov, who holds the post of Foreign Minister and head of diplomatic missions, told Turan that a service inspection would be conducted at the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tehran, which would result in decisions on the security service.

"The injured and killed at the Azerbaijani Embassy, all the members of the security service are not employees of the Foreign Ministry, they serve in different, several government agencies, so as a diplomat I cannot give a professional assessment of their work. 

What I can say is that there are no unified global standards for embassy security.  Each country's Foreign Ministry has its own methods; they may be uniform for several countries, as in the EU, or determined by a particular country. Also, much depends on the host state of the diplomatic mission. In this sense, Azerbaijan's Embassy in Iran is not the most dangerous place of service, our diplomats are in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, where in some revolutionary periods we had to raise the level of staff security. Security rules are constantly changing and improving based on local conditions, information exchange with other countries, and international experience.

The security methods for protecting missions, the number of security belts, the configuration of premises and armaments for guards are determined by local management depending on the probability of a threat in a given country, Zulfugarov said.  Officers may be unarmed, armed with live or non-lethal weapons. 

"Amateur judgments are now being published based on video footage posted on the networks. Without being present on the scene, without detailed inspection in person, it is impossible to make an assessment.  Embassies can be equipped with doors of different materials and different automatic devices, there can be two separate entrances to a diplomatic mission. Much depends on whether the building is owned or rented by our country. A reliable security system is expensive. All this, I am sure, will be discussed by the competent authorities," the diplomat noted.

He believes that in addition to doors and turnstiles, an information system between the diplomatic mission and the local security service is of great importance in ensuring the safety of diplomats working abroad and their families.

"In EU countries, embassies necessarily have a 'red button' signalling the danger to a special police unit, which arrives urgently at the first signal.  The embassies inform the local authorities of an impending or incipient mass event near the embassy, such as a protest. The local authorities then take additional security measures.  The police forces patrol the area where diplomatic missions are located".

Tofik Zulfugarov joined the Azerbaijani community in condemning the apparent inaction of the Tehran police and the local security guard, who did not even leave his booth from the beginning to the end of the terrorist attack.

According to our interlocutor, the injured and dead officers are insured by the state as military personnel. The wounded and the family of the deceased will receive insurance payments.

"Azerbaijani officer Orkhan Asgarov committed heroism, his courageous deed was reported by foreign diplomats. I think Askerov's name will be immortalized on a memorial plaque in the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, next to other fallen our diplomats and other employees, who died defending the state interests of the country. Allah rəhmət eləsin," Zulfugarov concluded.

The head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's press service Aykhan Hajizadeh told Turan about the satisfactory state of health of the two Embassy guards injured in the gunfire, but did not answer the question about the types of injuries.

"It is too early to talk about benefits and compensation for the family of the shehid, the Embassy security chief killed in Tehran," the diplomat said.  He also did not answer a question on whether there was a breadwinner in the family of the deceased Orkhan Askerov, father of two young children, after the death of the head of the family. -0-