AZERBAIJAN CLAMPS DOWN ON KARABAKH VISITORS
Asia Times, Hong Kong
Aug 16 2013
By Magerram Zeynalov
Azerbaijan has placed hundreds of foreign nationals on a blacklist
because they have visited Nagorny Karabakh.
The list of 335 people banned from entering Azerbaijan includes
journalists, politicians, and Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe.
The soprano’s trip to Karabakh in early June caused a minor diplomatic
row between Baku and Madrid.
It is easy to cross from Armenia to Karabakh, which has been under
a separate Armenian-run administration since a war with
Azerbaijani forces ended in 1994 with a truce but no lasting
settlement. Azerbaijan insists that since Karabakh remains its
sovereign, albeit occupied territory, travellers should go through the
same visa and entry procedures that apply to the rest of the country.
The blacklist includes parliamentarians from Britain, Canada,
France, Russia, Argentina and Uruguay, eight members of the European
Parliament, as well as journalists, photographers and others.
Elman Abdullayev, spokesman for the foreign ministry in Baku, said
those on the list were not welcome in Azerbaijan, but added that
their exclusion was not necessarily permanent.
“Any individual who has visited the occupied territory without our
permission can apply to the relevant agencies in Azerbaijan to be
removed from the blacklist,” he said. “The majority of those listed
were fooled into entering the occupied territory. The Armenians gave
them the false impression that they were just visiting the territory
of Armenia.”
Abdullayev said many others escaped the ban by seeking Baku’s
permission before entering Karabakh.
“In most of those cases, we responded in the affirmative, and hence we
have not included these individuals on the blacklist,” he said. “For
example, we heard from American journalists, representatives of
the International Crisis Group, and a host of other international
non-government organizations before they entered occupied Azerbaijani
territory.”
Margarita Akhvlediani, a journalist who heads the Go Media group in
Georgia, said she was stunned to find herself barred from entering
Azerbaijan.
“I have worked as a journalist and editor across the whole of the
Caucasus for more than 20 years, and I regularly travel to all the
various regions, because journalistic work requires one to be there
in person, otherwise one might miss significant trends and view,
particularly in remote areas,” she said.
Akhvlediani confirmed that she visited Karabakh in June 2011, but
disputed the legal basis for blacklisting her.
“Azerbaijan still has a rule that you only need to get approval for
a visit to Karabakh if you need a visa to enter Azerbaijan, [but]
Georgian nationals don’t need a visa,” she explained. “Azerbaijan is
now planning to change the law … and it’s possible new requirements
will be put in place. But it would seem that punishment comes first,
while legislation will be passed only later.”
Zarina Sanakoeva is a journalist from South Ossetia, a territory
which broke away from Georgian control at around the same time Nagorny
Karabakh declared independence. She too has been barred from Azerbaijan
for visiting Karabakh.
“Leaving aside the fact that it’s an ill-conceived move, and unjust in
purely human terms, I think it’s doubtful that there’s any political
benefit to be gained from it,” she said.
Eldar Zeynalov, director of the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan,
conceded that the government was within its rights to ban people
who interfered in the Karabakh dispute, but questioned what it would
achieve by barring entry to journalists, charity workers and artists.
Zeynalov said the list itself had “a very unfinished look to it”,
with photographs next to some names but not others, and the section
giving specific reasons for each individual’s travel ban frequently
left blank.
“All this suggests the document was prepared in a hurry, primarily
for internal consumption,” he said.
Zeynalov also noted that the list had been published only in
Azerbaijani. Although the language uses the Latin alphabet, foreign
names are transliterated. That means that, for example, Montserrat
Caballe appears on the list as “Monserrat Kaballye”, French member
of parliament Francois Rochebloine is called “Fransua Rosbluan”,
and Caroline Cox of Britain’s House of Lords becomes “Baranessa
Karolayn Koks”.
As Zeynalov pointed out, “That means many people who type their names
into search engines won’t find themselves listed as persona non grata.”
Magerram Zeynalov is a freelance journalist in Azerbaijan.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/CEN-01-160813.html