Foreign firms may be working for Armenian intelligence – Azeri minister

ANS TV, Baku
26 Mar 04

Presenter It cannot be ruled out that the Armenian special services
are not working in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani National Security Minister
Namiq Abbasov said, adding that they come here within the framework of
delegations from various foreign organizations.

Abbasov Of course, I cannot say that they are not working here. It
would not be serious to say so. Given that I can work there, why
should they not be able to work here? There are 30,000 ethnic
Armenians in Azerbaijan. Tens and hundreds of representatives of
pro-Armenian countries arrive in Azerbaijan every day. These are firms
and international organizations that come here under various
guises. No-one can say with confidence that these people are not
working for the Armenian special services. We expelled three people
from Azerbaijan six or seven years ago. I will not name them. We
banned them from entering Azerbaijan. They worked for an organization
which was engaged in activities beyond their business interests. They
were supposed to work as a humanitarian organization, but went to the
front line to learn where our army units were stationed.