Sabir Rustamkhanly: Expelling Chehraganli is a shame

The ban on entry of Mahmudali Chehraganli   to Azerbaijan is a shame, said MP Sabir Rustamkhanly, the head of the World Congress of Azerbaijanis in an interview with Turan, commenting on yesterday's deportation.

Rustamkhanly said that Chehraganli is one of the leaders of the movement for the sovereignty of South Azerbaijan, and one of the leaders of the World Congress of Azerbaijanis; and he blamed the Azerbaijani embassy in the United States for the incident. 

"Embassy staff did not give a clear answer to a request  of  Chehraganli about the  visa. On the contrary, Chehraganli was told that he would be able to get a visa on the spot upon arrival in Baku," said Rustamkhanly. "I was doing everything possible to prevent such an incident, and tried to talk with officials when Chehraganli had already arrived in Baku, but my efforts were unsuccessful,"  he concluded.

Since 2006 the  Azerbaijani authorities ban the arrival  of Mahmudali Chehraganli, living in political exile in the United States. This is done at the request of Tehran, which regards the support Chehraganli as sponsoring  by the official Baku a separatist movement in South Azerbaijan (North of Iran),  where ethnic Azeris constitute an absolute majority. -05B-