Azernews.Az

The Russian southern republic of Daghestan has turned into a political stronghold of Armenian separatists, a senior Azerbaijani scholar has said.
"There are fraternal relations between the Azerbaijani and Daghestani people, however, Armenian separatists are expanding their activities in Daghestan," the director of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences, MP Yagub Mahmudov said. "Armenians have forged particularly close cooperation with representatives of the separatist group Sadval."
He said Armenians played a particular role in financing this organization. "It appears that Daghestan today has turned into an ideological center of the forces hostile to Azerbaijan."
The scholar said Armenians were trying to falsify Azerbaijan's history in Daghestan including that of Darband, an ancient Azerbaijani residential area.
He pointed out that Azerbaijan enjoys friendly relations with Russia, including the leadership of predominantly Muslim Daghestan, but the expanding activity of Armenians in the Russian republic bordering on Azerbaijan has raised concerns.
He said Azerbaijani scholars and intellectuals should condemn these attempts to provoke tension in the relations between the peoples of Azerbaijan and Daghestan.