Azerbaijan riled by top Russian lawmaker's remarks
By Nigar Orujova, Azernews Staff Writer
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Vladimir Dorokhin and he was handed a diplomatic note at a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov, the ministry said Tuesday, following recent hostile remarks by a senior Russian lawmaker.
Khalafov expressed a strong protest against State Duma (lower house of Russian Parliament) vice chairman Vladimir Zhirinovsky's irresponsible call to terrorism and crimes against the Azerbaijani people, which he said provokes stirring up of ethnic hatred. Zhirinovsky's remarks were made in Moscow last week during a protest against the pardoning of Ramil Safarov -- a military officer who was transferred to his home country after serving part of his life sentence in Hungary for killing an Armenian officer in Budapest in 2004.
Last Friday's rally, which lasted an hour and a half, had been authorized by the Moscow Mayor's Office and organized by the Russian-Armenian Union, and was joined by 400 to 500 representatives of Armenian Youth Association of Moscow and Armenian diaspora, a local news agency reported.
Zhirinovsky is also the founder and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR).
Another State Duma member from LDPR, Ivan Sukharev, said addressing the rally that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not reacted to the matter yet. Sukharev further said that the party would always support the Armenian people and would continue pursuing this policy.
Khalafov said that Zhirinovsky's irresponsible call cast a shadow on the existing cooperation and friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Russia. He also emphasized that such statements damage Russia's mediating mission as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group in the negotiations on a peaceful resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Khalafov expressed hope that Zhirinovsky's irresponsible statement would be appropriately assessed by the Russian government.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu held a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin in Moscow, reports said.
The meeting focused on the relations between Azerbaijan and Russia. The ambassador brought to the attention of the Russian official the remarks of Zhirinovsky.
Earlier in 2012
This is not the first statement defying Azerbaijan Zhirinovsky made this year.
On February 1, prior to the presidential elections in Russia, Zhirinovsky said in an interview with Azerbaijan's APA news agency that if elected he "will propose Azerbaijan and Armenia to join Russia as a Trans-Caucasian Federal Region". He said governorship of this federal region should be granted to Azerbaijan because of the population size, but the deputy governor could be elected among the Armenians. "If Azerbaijan and Armenia don't accept this proposal, we will recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh," Zhirinovsky said.
He added that Russia needs Armenia to use it as an advantage over Turkey. "Armenia defends our borders from the direction of Turkey. We need Armenia for that reason."
Later in February, Zhirinovsky once again defended Armenia, saying that upon its request, Russia would "destroy everything all the way to the Persian Gulf".
Azerbaijani analyst, MP Aydin Mirzazade believes Zhirinovsky's remarks are not worth paying attention.
"Zhirinovsky is one of the few politicians whose words are not taken seriously. He is notorious not only in Russia but also abroad," Mirzazade told the local press earlier.
Another MP, Fazayil Aghamali, said prior to Russia's March 4 presidential election that Zhirinovsky's statements "are mainly aimed at obtaining a large number of votes, but on the other hand, they stem from his political principles".
"He is one of the politicians who have always had an anti-Turkish and anti-Azerbaijani position," Aghamali said.
Zhirinovsky stood in five presidential elections in Russia from 1991-2012.