Political scientist: Baku`s policy against Russian citizens with  Armenian roots is a clear manifestation of xenophobia

ArmInfo.The actions of the Azerbaijani authorities towards Russian citizens with Armenian roots are not normal, it is a clear manifestation of xenophobia,  accompanied by an outright violation of human rights, regardless of  the country of residence and citizenship.

This viewpoint was expressed by the head of the Armenian branch of the CIS Institute,  political scientist Alexander Margarov, referring to today's  statement of Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov, who  reacted to the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry about the  problems with the admission of Russian citizens with an Armenian  surname to the territory of Azerbaijan.

According to him, this behavior of the authorities of Azerbaijan once  again confirms the thesis that Baku is trying to give etachocracy to  its regime. "We will not talk about the fact that the Azerbaijani  authorities are implementing an assimilation policy in respect to the  national minorities that originally live in these territories. By  such actions, Azerbaijan is trying to build a predominantly Turkic  population and, without officially declaring, is trying to create a  mono-national country," the political scientist said.

Today in an interview with RIA Novosti, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister  Elmar Mammadyarov, referring to the statement of the Russian Foreign  Ministry about the problems with the admission of Russian citizens  with an Armenian surname to the country, appealed to the insulting  and false thesis about the capture by Armenians of 20% of the  territory, about hundreds of thousands of refugees and settlers,  about the girl who died from shelling. This, he said, will cause a  big emotional surge in the Azerbaijani society, has become a source  of serious surprise and misunderstanding. Turning to the issue of a  peaceful settlement, Mammadyarov stated the need to "shift the  negotiation process from the ground." "This will enable the  temporarily displaced persons to return to their places of permanent  residence. In parallel, security issues will find solutions,  communications will resume, the economic factor will start, people  will have confidence and the suspicion and resentment existing among  Armenians and Azerbaijanis will gradually disappear. And sometimes we  get the impression that they are trying to make us accept the  situation as a fait accompli. By the way, people of Armenian  nationality - citizens of different countries, including Armenia,  repeatedly visited Azerbaijan on these or other occasions. But all  these were trips appropriately organized and prearranged and  prepared. In this case, no problems have arisen. We tried to convey  this to the Russian side through diplomatic channels," he said.

On July 6, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the  situation with the citizens of the Russian Federation of Armenian  origin. "In connection with numerous media questions about the ban on  entry to Azerbaijan, Russian citizens are forced to state that  Russian citizens who come to this country are indeed discriminated on  ethnic grounds. Since the beginning of this year, 25 citizens of the  Russian Federation have been denied on entry to Azerbaijan. As a  rule, they were subjected to many hours of detention at the Baku  airport (in some cases - without food, water and medical care, in one  case it was a woman with a four-year-old child), and then forcibly  sent at her own expense. "Reason" for such mockeries were Armenian  names, 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, not to mention the direct violation of the rights of  Russian citizens, contrary to the spirit and letter of the  Russian-Azerbaijani Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual  Security of July 3, 1997, the intergovernmental agreement 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. We repeatedly, including through  official notations of the Russian Embassy in Baku and the Russian  Foreign Ministry, demanded to stop this outrage practice to conduct  proceedings and give a proper assessment of the behavior of officials  at the International Airport named Heydar Alieva. They proceeded,  including from the fact that Azerbaijan positions itself as an  example of national and religious tolerance, multiculturalism, and  recently also declares its intention to establish an  Azerbaijani-Armenian public dialogue.

But our expectations were not justified. The investigation of the  incidents was not conducted. In response, 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. It,  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. Of  course, we will draw conclusions from the current situation, "the  Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.