Exchange of "courtesies" of the Russian and Russian Foreign Ministries

This week has become the most tense for the last years of the Azerbaijani-Russian interstate relations. There has never been such a thing: the foreign ministries of Russia and Azerbaijan exchanged four differently harsh and unfriendly statements, accusing each other of violating international law and contradicting the spirit of allied relations.

The "exchange of courtesies" began with the unexpectedly harsh statement by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who demanded that Baku abolish the secret ban on visiting Azerbaijan by Russians, whose passports feature Armenian names and surnames. This statement sounded monstrous because it was issued by Moscow on July 5, a day after the Armenian Armed Forces killed a two-year-old girl, her grandmother and a woman from the village of Alkhanly. Instead of reacting to this murder, having named the culprit, M. Zakharova suddenly announced the right of Russian Armenians to freely come to Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani public protested in the social network against it. A strict ban on unauthorized rallies by the authorities, and even the indefinite transfer of mass march to Baku over the killing of civilians on July 4 caused rally, marches and manifestations on Facebook by the Azerbaijanis. Former Foreign Minister Tofiq Zulfugarov, who called for a war with Armenia, considers the activity of the Azerbaijani public a very important factor in the fight against hostile propaganda. The ruling family is interested in public opinion. Therefore, here is the statement of an engineer from Sumgayit, Nail Mehdiyev:

- In the light of the killing the Azerbaijanis by the Armenian military, I do not understand the position of the Russian Foreign Ministry: what do they want? The Kremlin does not know that Azerbaijan and Armenia are at war?! They want Armenians with Russian passports to go to Baku and spy and make provocative actions?

For the sake of objectivity, it should be noted that if the first reply of the Azerbaijani side were as distinct and sharp as the second one on July 6, it is possible that the Department of Information and Press of the Russian Foreign Ministry would not have to distribute a separate comment in connection with the ban on the entry of Russian citizens of Armenian nationality. The publication by the Contact.az devoted to the first reaction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan spoke about the indistinctness of the official statement of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. If, in the first statement our Foreign Ministry pointed to the threat of Armenian terrorism, because of which Armenians are not allowed to enter Azerbaijan, the Russians would understand.

In fact, the same is said in the comments of the Russian Foreign Ministry on July 6:

- The response of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said that "to prevent undesirable excesses, Azerbaijan is forced to apply appropriate regulations in relation to a number of persons." We consider this answer vague and unsatisfactory. He, unfortunately, shows that Russian citizens arriving in Azerbaijan still risk being victims of arbitrariness.

We continue to demand the cessation of outrageous discriminatory practices that are incompatible with friendly relations between the two countries.

The second Russian statement is fundamentally different from the first threatening ending with a warning "on conclusions from the current situation." An important part of the document of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of July 6 is also the reference to the intergovernmental agreement signed by Azerbaijan on visa-free travel of citizens dated July 3, 1997, as well as the Declaration on Friendship and Strategic Partnership between Russia and Azerbaijan of July 3, 2008. It is obvious that at that time or even much later, the Azerbaijani side had to add a separate paragraph to the text of these documents about the visit of our country by the Russian of Armenian nationality.

Of course, we will draw conclusions from the current situation, "the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The second Russian statement is fundamentally different from the first threatening ending with a warning of "conclusions from the current situation." An important part of the document of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of July 6 is also the reference to the intergovernmental agreement signed by Azerbaijan on visa-free travel of citizens dated July 3, 1997, as well as the Declaration on Friendship and Strategic Partnership between Russia and Azerbaijan of July 3, 2008. It is obvious that at that time or even Much later, the Azerbaijani side had to add a separate paragraph to the text of these documents about the visit of our Armenian people to our country by the Russians.

And of course, the vital needs of the visitors detained at the Baku airport should be provided, regardless of the names in the passports. There were 25 guests from Russia denied by Azerbaijan , reported Zakharova. And this is a part of the second statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry, in which the accusation against Azerbaijan is difficult to challenge:

- As a rule, they were detained at the Baku airport for many hours (in some cases - without food, water and medical assistance, in one case it was a woman with a four-year-old child), and then forcibly sent at their own expense. The "basis" for such bullying was Armenian surnames, names or patronymics of our citizens. There were, however, cases when persons with Russian names, names and patronymics were interrogated for the identification of "Armenian ancestors".

All this looks wild ..., reads the commentary.

The real reason for the restrictions in visiting Azerbaijan, is the Armenian aggression and occupation of Azerbaijani land, the Foreign Ministry of our country said about it clearly and broadly only in the second statement.

The first was actually "about nothing". Tofik Zulfugarov, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, also spoke about this surprisingly unprofessionalism of the compilers of official statements of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

The second statement of Baku satisfied the Azerbaijani experts. Analyst Shain Jafarli states the fact of an irrefutable crisis created by these statements.

"For the first time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan issued such a harsh response, in which the position of the Russian Foreign Ministry is called far from ethics and unfriendly. There is a hint on the participation of Russians in the Khojaly genocide and Russia's indifference to the fate of its citizen Dilgam Asgarov. There is growing tension, its causes are local and geopolitical, including the coming election of the Russian president," Jafarli said.

The Azerbaijani public supports the tone and essence of the second statement of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, caused by Russia's concern for tourist wishes of the Armenians of this country. This story should be a lesson for the compilers of texts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. They could be expressed their thoughts the way Aydin Mirzazade, a member of the Milli Majlis, commented on the situation:

- This applies to all persons of Armenian nationality who are citizens of foreign states. Azerbaijan proceeds from the principle of preventing provocation and violation of security in its country, and for this Azerbaijan has the right to take any steps that are not contrary to international law. In this case, blaming Azerbaijan is not worth it. Azerbaijan is at war with Armenia, and therefore it must protect its sovereignty and internal security from any encroachment. There is no guarantee that people of Armenian nationality cannot be attracted to provocative activities or adventures of Armenian secret services, as there are enough such facts in history. It would be nice if Russia demanded from Armenia the withdrawal of troops from the occupied territories, the release of two Azerbaijani hostages Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, who were illegally detained and convicted in Nagorno Karabakh, and called on Armenia to respect the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. In this case, there will not be a need to impose restrictions on the entry of persons of Armenian nationality into Azerbaijan. "