Armenophobia in Azerbaijan

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan announced that it was well aware of his visit to Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and had no objection. Nevertheless, despite the assurances of E. Abdullayev

that “foreign nationals who seek official authorization from the Azerbaijani side to visit occupied territories of the country will not be included in the list”, the awareness of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan failed to save Englund’s name from appearing in the blacklist. Will Englund, in his turn, stated that in his coverage of Nagorno-Karabakh, he gave an impartial commentary on the issue and a truthful account of what he personally saw, and the capital city of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic for decades has borne the name of Stepanakert and not Khankendi, as claimed by the Azerbaijanis

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In May 2013, a Georgian journalist Margarita Akhvlediani was detained at the airport of Baku and not allowed to enter the country, while the citizens of Great Britain who were accompanying her were allowed to gain free entry into Azerbaijan.

“Indeed, yesterday I arrived in Baku by plane at the invitation of Avaz Hasanov, Head of Society for Humanitarian Research, to hold trainings among refugees and internally displaced persons. However, I could not make it through the passport control as I was simply not allowed to pass. I had to spend almost 24 hours at the airport of Baku, without hearing any explanation. Only later did I find out that I was denied entry to Azerbaijan because of my visit to Nagorno-Karabakh. Yet, my passport contains no stamps or seals attesting my visit to Karabakh. I’m a journalist and may visit any country in my professional capacity. Interestingly, British nationals who accompanied me and had also paid a visit to Karabakh faced absolutely no claims. I studied the legislation of Azerbaijan, and unlike Georgian legislation, it does not provide for any penalty or sanction for visiting Nagorno-Karabakh. This incident is currently handled by the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Georgia, and I am also waiting for explanations from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan”, concluded M. Akhvlediani in her interview.

The journalists from Euronews TV channel who visited Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and produced some footage covering the real daily life of the local population could also avoid blacklisting. To be fair, they were required to make amends and shoot a similar film from the Azerbaijani perspective. Peter Barabas who is the chief editor of the TV channel agreed to prepare an equivalent report from Azerbaijan but “on the same terms which we solicited from the Armenian Government, i.e. the report will be based exclusively on our editorial policy and guiding principles”, stated P. Barabas.

It is possible to be blacklisted for a single use of the word Karabakh. A popular Daghestani singer Timur Temirov was blacklisted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan after he recorded a song named Our dear Caucasus, in which he confessed his love for Armenia and sang of its sights, including Artsakh. In his interview to Vesti.az, Timur Temirov stated that after the airing of the music video, he was denied entry to Azerbaijan: “Last year, they turned me back, and I don’t want that it happening again”.

There have been recorded cases of removing a name from the blacklist. The removal procedure is also quite obscure and opaque; yet, past experience indicates that it takes showing some remorse and asking for forgiveness, although in certain cases, it is enough to admit verbally that the person in question visited Karabakh unknowingly or was tricked into going there (“they didn’t say where they were taking us”). However, it does not always work with everyone. Or you can hail Azerbaijan preferably by showing your dislike of Armenia; however, this requirement may be dispensed with.

After the Russian singer Katya Lel gave a concert in Karabakh and was subsequently blacklisted, she gave an interview to the Azerbaijani information agency AzerTAc where she expressed a wish to have her name off the blacklist of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan; she was allowed to give a free concert in Baku.

A famed French actor Gerard Depardieu and Head of the Georgian Writers Union Makvala Gonashvili

had their names removed from the blacklist after they publicly repented.

Journalists from Zerkalo newspaper set a goal of finding out what are Azerbaijan’s requirements for removing a name from the blacklist.

To believe the press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs E. Polukhov, there are absolutely no requirements. He clarified that placing a person’s name on the list of undesirables was not the Ministry’s responsibility: “Once we receive information that a specific person has visited Nagorno-Karabakh, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs forwards this information to the appropriate public bodies which are authorized to ban entry to the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The border guard service which is responsible for defending the country’s frontier has such a list”.

This being said, it is still unclear who makes the decision on removing a specific name from the list. E. Polukhov suggested that journalists might seek clarification on issues of their interest at law enforcement authorities, i.e. Azerbaijan’s Ministry of National Security and the State Border Service.

Following Polukhov’s advice, the journalists turned to the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan for an elucidation. However, the Ministry’s Head of Public Relations, Arif Babayev stated that this matter was beyond the scope of their Ministry. Next, the journalists asked the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Azerbaijan to comment on the issue. According to the Ministry’s press service represented by Orhan Mansurzadeh, their Ministry did not handle the placement or removal of names on the list of undesirables. The State Border Service of Azerbaijan communicated through the officer of its press service, Jabrail Aliyev that the name of a person was removed from the list of undesirables by the same organization which had placed the name on the list.

It must be noted that despite Azerbaijan’s threats of blacklisting those who visit Karabakh, the number of official and artistic visitors grows year by year which cannot go unnoticed by the Azerbaijani side.

They can see that draconian measures not only fail to discourage visits to Karabakh but also increase in inverse proportion the number of names on the list which means that these people will refrain from visiting Azerbaijan.

Abulfaz Garayev, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, claims to see through this devious scheme: ‘’Armenians are implementing a willful policy trying to rob Azerbaijan of famed artistic figures and take various singers to Karabakh by deception”.

Reporters without borders, which is an international organization defending the freedom of the press has voiced its concern over the situation where the Azerbaijani authorities restrict the work of journalists who cover the Karabakh conflict. “In doing their work, journalists must enjoy freedom and unimpeded movement without having to obtain the permission of any party. Blacklisting journalists is inadmissible and inefficient,” says the press release of the organization.

Using visits to Armenia as a pretext to deny entry to persons who constitute a threat for the country’s political regime is yet another peculiarity of the blacklist. It was the case in the situation with a journalist Milrad Fatullayev who was an ethnic Lezgin.

A working visit turned sour for Milrad Fatullayev with his less-than-pleasant stay at the airport of Baku where he had to spend a whole day locked up by the border guards. No intelligible explanation was given as to the reasons of Fatullayev’s detention. <…> “Absence of any justification is the most interesting justification. Because I came here, to the Baku airport, at 3 o’clock in the morning, my passport was taken from me for control and I never got it back. In addition, I was given no explanation; here I am sitting and waiting. <…> I remember a similar case when I was checked in the same way in Baku after I had been to Armenia, but that was a year and half or two years ago. <…> At that time, I could go through the controls and returned to Moscow after visiting Azerbaijan. So, I thought that now it was about the same thing. I kept waiting, but by 5 o’clock I made up my mind to figure out what the matter was. <…> I introduced myself as a journalist of Nezavissimaya Gazeta newspaper to an officer who tried to expose me as a person who was breaking the law. Well, I stood there trying to explain to him that I came there to a specific person for a specific reason.<…> As I could learn, I was denied entry to Azerbaijan because of taking part in a conference held in Yerevan and initiated by Mr. Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan. Another Dagestani journalist, Marko Shahbanov, the leader of Avar National and Cultural Autonomy, had earlier faced problems attempting to gain entry to Azerbaijan.<…> While crossing the border, he also underwent a verification procedure, but was allowed to go through in the end. Last year, I also had my documents checked, but they finally let me go through. Now again, there are Azerbaijanis coming up to me and asking: “What is it? Have you been to Karabakh?” No, I haven’t been there”.

Alexander Lapshin (Puerrttо), a traveler well-known in the blogosphere for visiting various countries and crossing countless borders, describes how to bluff your way past customs officers at the Georgian-Azerbaijani border:

“Things were quick and easy on the Georgian side. Next, I walked over a border bridge and set foot in Azerbaijan. There, everything was very different from Georgia. The setting epitomized an unmistakable Soviet spirit. Georgian policemen wearing smiles and nice uniforms were replaced by gloomy tommy gunners wearing soviet military fur hats with earflaps, while numerous signs reading ‘’Bribery is punishable by 7 years of imprisonment” were replaced by ubiquitous portraits of the Aliyevs: both father and son. A very cold and standoffish man in plain clothes demanded: “Passport”. I handed my passport over to him. He examined it for a long time scrutinizing every page. For some reason, he tried to scratch my Georgian visa with his fingernail <…>. Next, he said something to me in the Azerbaijani language. I replied that, regretfully, I didn’t speak Azerbaijani and asked in my turn: “Do you speak English?” in case the man did not speak Russian. He smirked at me and said in an immaculate Russian: “In fact, I asked you in Armenian”. Wow, can it be possible that an Armenian works in the Azerbaijani State Security Service? That was incredible. So I asked him: “I beg your pardon, are you Armenian?” His eyes popped out in shock. “What?? What makes you think that I am Armenian? I am Azerbaijani. Then, I asked him why on earth had he spoken to me in Armenian? He cut me short: “That’s it, enough talking, if I ask, I do it for a reason”.

Another minute went by as he examined my passport for the fifth time. Then, all of a sudden, he shot a question at me: “Have you been to Armenia?” I answered in the affirmative sensing that I was up for a tough conversation. Then the officer went off with his next question: “And you must have been to Karabakh too, right?” I replied that these were only his assumptions and unfounded at that. He looked up: “So you must be a lawyer then?” I let the remark go unanswered. He tapped me on the shoulder and said: “Welcome to Azerbaijan!” So, I got another stamp in my passport.

On August 2, 2013, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan published a list consisting of 335 names placed on the blacklist.

Despite the assurances of the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Elman Abdullayev to the effect that “illegal visits to the occupied territories of the Republic”

were the underlying reasons for that, over 50 persons were blacklisted without any reason specified.

6. Ban on positive attitude to Armenians

Another essential component of the blocking policy against Armenia and inculcation of armenophobia implying a complete dehumanization of Armenians is the ban on any references that may potentially showcase the human qualities of Armenians and portray them as possessing creative and benevolent traits. All potential avenues towards personal contacts apt to cause the shattering of propaganda clichés, which translate into a huge cost in terms of money, resources and time, are shut off.

The representatives of the country’s intellectual, political and cultural elite are recruited to partake in this process, administrative leverage is exercised, while all recalcitrant persons take heavy punishment becoming obstructed and divested of any opportunity to pursue their professional activities.

Or, inversely, upon accomplishment of the public repudiation of Armenians as a concept, feelings of sympathy towards Armenians can be used as a sufficient ground to ostracize an out-of-favor opponent often in political and not infrequently in professional, social and daily life.

Siyavush Novruzov, Member of Parliament, deputy executive secretary of the ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan: Rustam Ibragimbekov, who held the meeting of the National Council in a hotel that belongs to an Armenian, proved once again his alliance with Armenians <…> Rustam Ibragimbekov has good relations with Armenians. He openly stated that he held Armenians in great respect and esteem. In one of his interviews, he even said that after the Armenians left Baku, our capital city sank low in cultural sense. How can a person with such thinking lead Azerbaijan?

Techniques to impact the public perception of Armenians can be distinguished according to their object, extent and form.

Target I. Marginalizing interaction with Armenians

In this case, the same techniques are employed as described above. Marginalizing all interactions with Armenians over social networks

can be classified as another manifestation of this ban, with persons considered to be the most reputable for a specific social group, including politicians, scientists and artistic figures of different levels recruited to put in their weight to impact their respective target groups. Verbal abuse in respect of Armenians is held in an especially high social esteem and is considered to be a display of patriotic feelings.

Aydin Mirzazadeh, Member of Parliament: When some residents of Baku lapse into sentimentality and search for their former classmates and neighbors among Armenians or even add them to their friend list, they must pause and think how friendly the feelings of the opposite side are.

Nizami Jafarov, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Cultural Issues: With the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh still pending, cooperation with Armenians at any level is an act of treason. You can negotiate, discuss political matters, resolve cultural problems, but befriending Armenians, with Armenia occupying our lands, is inadmissible. This is a feigned friendship!

Zahid Oruj, Member of the Standing Parliamentary Commission on Security and Defense: Such friendly ties are absolutely unacceptable, because they create an impression that we are free from problems with Armenia, that we are not in a state of war with them, and they did not occupy our lands. In general, all friendly visits to Armenia and Nagorno-Garabakh as part of popular diplomacy are unacceptable, as they lead to the freezing of the conflict and contribute to resolving legal matters in favor of Armenia. The history has shown the price that Azerbaijan had to pay for its friendship with Armenia: how much of our land went to Armenians in the Soviet times, how much more has been occupied… Friendship with Armenians can virtually result in another strategic grab of the Azerbaijani territories in the future. Therefore, the Ministry of National Security must take a partial control of all messaging that goes through this website.

Vafa Guluzadeh, political analyst, an advisor to the former government: There can never be any friendship between us and Armenians firstly, because a sea of blood has been shed and secondly, there is Russia that pits Armenia against Azerbaijan using them to fulfill its own agenda.

Sayga Jahid, anchorperson and producer: Of course, there are many active Armenian users on this website trying to contact Azerbaijanis. It has also happened to me, but I immediately removed them because they are our enemies. We must refrain from entering into any correspondence with them. I have a negative attitude about those who do so, and especially singers. They must be ashamed!

Farid Rzayev, anchorperson of the V.I.P Club TV show: I am a user of this website and I found there many of my friends and relatives. However, any communication with Armenians is out of the question. Why do we have to communicate with them? And if an Armenian tries to contact me, I blacklist him.

Orhan Rzayev, anchorperson of the V.I.P Club TV show: I would like to add up to the words of my brother Farid that the website odnoklassniki.ru has many Armenian users. They may pretend to be angels, but we must not be deceived by that. We have only one enemy, and it is Armenians. We must not forget that as early as in their infancy, it is whispered into their little ears: “In the future, you will become a citizen of the Great Armenia, and you have only one enemy, and it is the Turks.

Ilkin Hasani, anchorperson at the TV show ATV Magazine: May I be damned if I ever communicate with Armenians. I have sent them a couple of messages but only to fight them virtually.

Faytoncu Nazim, singer: Corresponding with Armenians is no good. They’re our enemies. Befriending Armenians who have grabbed over 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands is a complete absurdity. I am also against it.

Agil Abbas, Member of Parliament, writer and journalist: I have two sons who occasionally visit Armenian sites. They can give quite a harsh reply to Armenians and so make their own contribution to the information war. I personally consider it weird that young people correspond with Armenians. If it is done out of friendship, then they are fools, and I will repeat – fools. We may resume our contacts with Armenians only after they kneel down before us and ask forgiveness for Garabakh. The people, who visit this website for a friendly exchange of messages with Armenians, are not Azerbaijanis.

The Azerbaijani website Unсоqtа. az website published an article entitled ‘What is the link between the correspondent of Zerkalo newspaper and Armenians?’ in which the journalist Yelena Malakhova is accused by her Azerbaijani colleagues of communication with her Armenian acquaintances over the web. The article says that despite the Karabakh conflict, Armenians live in Azerbaijan, “but it does not mean that they are not our enemies”. “Armenians who live among us have been naturalized, but we must know our enemies by sight”, says the article and points that every citizen of Azerbaijan must know it and refrain from close interaction with Armenians.”The correspondent of Zerkalo newspaper Yelena Malakhova seems to have forgotten this simple truth. This lady has recently been to Belgium as part of the EU European Neighborhood Policy Program. In Brussels, Malakhova walked with the delegation of Armenian journalists and took pictures with them. The pictures clearly show warm relations of Yelena Malakhova with Armenians. Now she communicates with them over Facebook and posted there a picture with Alla Serobyan”, airs its indignation the Azerbaijani news outlet.

Faig Agayev, People’s Artist of Azerbaijan criticized on his Facebook page those of his compatriots who Liked the Armenian magazine Yerevan. “I don’t quite understand… what kind of Azerbaijani could have Liked this? Do you realize what you Like? You must be ashamed”, wrote Agayev and stated that he had a right to express his opinion as a citizen of Azerbaijan and a People’s Artist.

Vagif Semedoghlu, People’s Poet of Azerbaijan, former Member of Parliament: I have never taken part in any meetings between Azerbaijani and Armenian intellectuals and I will never do so. I will never set foot in any such meeting. What is the use of such meetings, if you know in advance that nothing good comes out of it?

Target II. Marginalizing those who still communicate with Armenians