Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The Coordination Council of the Netherlands-Belgium Azerbaijanis has prevented a provocation during a tourism exhibition in Utrecht, Netherlands.

At the Jaarbeurs Exhibition and Convention Center in Utrecht, provocative materials of separatist nature were showcased in the Armenian stand.

In particular, booklets of Armenian travel companies and promotional materials of the Georgian GroosCom Travel company and the Dutch Kaukasus Reisen Plus company presented distorted information about the occupied Azerbaijani territories. These companies used maps where the occupied Azerbaijani territories were painted in a different color, and were indicated as “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.”

A dispute was started after a member of the Coordination Council of the Netherlands-Belgium Azerbaijanis, Emil Aliyev, demanded that these materials be immediately removed from the exhibition. His demand was met with serious protest, and representatives of the above-mentioned companies used physical force against him.

Representatives of Georgian travel agencies said that they used these maps because they couldn’t find other maps for the exhibition and they would only remove the map with the instruction of the exhibition managers.

Aliyev held several meetings with the organizers of the exhibition, and afterwards, provocative materials were removed from the exhibition.

According to the management of the exhibition, they did not want to face the problem that arose by the Armenians in 2019. Therefore, the Armenian tourist companies are strictly forbidden to display any maps, flags, or portions of Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent republic or the Armenian territory. Even a so-called "map" of Nagorno-Karabakh discovered among booklets was confiscated, and it was instructed to seriously consider the issue.

The Coordination Council employee told the organizers that until January 19, Azerbaijan’s representatives will control the exhibition every day, insistently demanding that maps and booklets with provocative elements not be used again.

Earlier, in 2019, Armenians also made a provocation indicating Nagorno-Karabakh as an Armenian territory on a geographical map displayed at a tourism exhibition in Utrecht. Emil Aliyev and other Azerbaijani activists of the Diaspora strongly opposed the Armenian provocation and succeeded in removing the map. Azerbaijanis informed the management and participants of the exhibition that Nagorno-Karabakh is inalienable and integral part of Azerbaijan.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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