AZERBAIJANI-TURKISH ‘FLAG CONFLICT’ GOES ON

Information-Analytic Agency NEWS.am
Oct 19 2009
Armenia

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with Azerbaijani
Ambassador Zakir Hashimov for political consultations over removal
of Turkish flags in the Shahid alley in Baku, Turkish Zaman daily
reports. "The details of this meeting have not yet made public,"
the source says.

"Removal of foreign flags, including Turkish, in Baku and other
places of Azerbaijan recently has not been related to the repair or
any other works", the Chief of the Public Policy Department of the
Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Ali Hasanov told Azerbaijani
APA news agency.

According to him, "the lowering of flags was related to the
implementation of law on using of flags of foreign countries and
international organizations in the Republic of Azerbaijan".

Azerbaijani Musavat oppositional party made a statement, that
Azerbaijani authorities’ policy on state flags of neighboring country
is a political blunder. "The present tension between the countries
does not give Azerbaijani leadership enough ground for these actions.

The step is directed not against Ankara, but the whole Turkish state."

he information on Turkish flags’ removal was spread October 17.

According to the security guard, the flags were taken off the
flagstaffs October 15. The guard, who didn’t want to be identified,
underlining that before the flags’ removal some "governmental
officials" visited the spot. Earlier scandal on the ban of Azeri
flags in Bursa where Armenia-Turkey football match took place.