Expert: Turkish citizens’ visit to Karabakh – step against Azerbaijan’s interests
By Rashid Shirinov
The illegal visit of Turkish citizens to the Azerbaijani lands occupied by Armenia caused great discontent and anxiety in Azerbaijani society.
Political Scientist Fikrat Sadikhov told Day.az that each country has a certain circle of people, who even being aware of the roots of a conflict, still try to annoy someone, or pretend to be great peacekeepers, human rights defenders who are allegedly somehow able to help resolve the conflict.
“Of course, the visit of Turkish citizens to the occupied Karabakh is a step against Azerbaijan’s interests, and if you even consider such actions of questionable content in a different context, for example, as a peace step, they still cannot be justified, since there is the most logical and objective way for that,” he noted.
The Grave Crimes Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office filed a criminal case under Criminal Code’s Article 318.2 (illegally crossing Azerbaijan’s state borders) against Turkish citizens - Ufuk Uras, Ali Bayramoglu, Said Cekinoglu and Erol Katircioglu , who without documents and consent from relevant executive authorities crossed the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan avoiding checkpoints.
That is, they deliberately traveled from territory of Armenia and illegally arrived in occupied Khankendi and other settlements of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
They have been declared in the international wanted list. Azerbaijan also sent an appeal to the Turkish law enforcement agencies in order to detain the four citizens.
The expert reminded that the Turkish citizens could appeal to international organizations to demand the enforcement of Armenia to implement resolutions on de-occupation of Azerbaijani territories.
“Once they went to Karabakh, they should have required from Armenia to start to liberate the seven occupied Azerbaijani regions around Karabakh. But instead, a bunch of people makes fruitless conversations, and frankly twaddle, which a priori cannot benefit any of the parties to the conflict,” Sadikhov said.
Therefore, these “human rights defenders” should bear criminal responsibility under the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, the expert added.
“These Turkish citizens demonstrated their betrayal and disregard for the interests of Turkey and its closest ally Azerbaijan,” Sadikhov noted. “At the same time, such steps, made on the initiative of a separate group of people, are not able to harm bilateral close relations between our countries.”
He added that Turkey has always supported Azerbaijan's position in all political, military, and strategic issues in international forums.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry, commenting on the issue, stated that the illegal visit does not reflect the official policy of Ankara.
“Turkey will continue to support Azerbaijan's fair position on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the Ministry said.
Turkey’s Ministry of Justice, in turn, informed that after verifying the issue, the Turkish side will inform Azerbaijan in detail.
MP Rovshan Rzayev, in turn, told Trend that along with Azerbaijan, the Turkish side should sharply condemn the illegal visit of its citizens to the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.
He noted that the illegal visit made by the representatives of the fraternal country causes regret.
“It is an act of their disrespect to the legislation of Azerbaijan. They met with the separatist regime in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and expressed opinions against Azerbaijan,” he said. “The Turkish citizens’ visit to our lands occupied by Armenia is a support for the provocative Armenian policy.”
The MP expressed hope that the issue will be investigated in accordance with the law and measures will be taken against these persons.
Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia are considered illegal, and any individuals paying such visits are included in the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's ‘black list.’ The Ministry and diplomatic missions pay special attention to the illegal activity in the occupied areas of the country.
Baku has repeatedly warned foreign officials and diplomats of illegality of visits to its territories that are occupied by Armenia, calling them contradictory to international law.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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