The border is locked: more harm or benefit?

Baku/02.08.23/Turan: The global state of emergency in connection with the coronavirus epidemic has been completed, WHO said on May 5, 2023. But in June, the Cabinet of Ministers again extended the quarantine restrictions in Azerbaijan.

In fact, the issue of maintaining closed land borders in Azerbaijan to prevent the penetration of potential hostile elements and dangerous ideology is a subject of discussion. While some see this as a necessary security measure, others argue that it harms the development of tourism in the country and restricts the freedom of movement of citizens in need of medical care, and for other significant reasons.

The ruling circles in Baku explain the repeated extension of the quarantine regime not by the danger of the coronavirus entering the country, but by the desire to close the country from hostile ideology and the arrival of emigrants from Russia and Asian countries. Deputy Hikmet Babaoglu spoke about this at a meeting of the Milli Majlis.

Is it the right decision to keep the land borders closed in order to prevent the danger of enemy elements and dangerous ideology entering the country? In an interview with Turan, security expert Arastun Orujlu admitted that there is a possibility of destabilizing elements entering Azerbaijan, but the government does not want to openly recognize such a danger, and therefore refers to the pandemic.

"There are a lot of young unemployed people in Russia, among them there are Azerbaijanis who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and are ready to serve in the Russian army and in Prigozhin's detachments. The facts of the conscription of these Azerbaijanis in the Armed Forces of Russia and in the PMCs "Wagner" are known. Azerbaijan's policy of preventing such people from entering Azerbaijan by closing the land borders is wrong, since saboteurs and terrorists enter the country illegally. It is necessary to strengthen the borders, in which there are gaps through which criminal elements can penetrate from the outside," he said.

The expert believes that this is the responsibility of the law enforcement forces of Azerbaijan.

"But it is necessary to calculate the harm that the state tourism development program receives from closed borders. Our citizens who wish to visit Georgia to fly to other countries, including Iran for treatment, suffer. If the authorities are afraid of terrorists, then why don't they open a land road to Georgia and Turkey with the Iranian and Russian borders closed? The authorities, as always, act irrationally, without calculating all the benefits and harms from such a decision," Arastun Orujlu said.

There is another problem that is rapidly getting worse – Azerbaijan is turning into a transit country for the illegal entry of migrants into Georgia, Russia and further into Europe. According to the State Border Service, 40 border violators were detained in Azerbaijan in June. Among the border violators are 19 citizens of Azerbaijan, 9 – Pakistan, 4 – Turkey, 4 – Afghanistan and 1 each – Ukraine, Iran and India. 25 people were detained in connection with illegal migration. In addition, 973 people were detained in connection with the violation of the border regime.