ANTI-ARMENIAN HYSTERIA IN AZERBAIJAN
Laura Grigorian
Azat Artsakh Daily, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh [NKR]
01 June 07
Nagorno-Karabakh took part in the 7th international tourism expo
in Moscow on May 17-20. The Azerbaijanis living in Moscow tried to
hinder Nagorno-Karabakh’s participation, the media reported. On May
29 the Agency for Development of Tourism held a news conference at
the Armenia Hotel on the expo in Moscow.
Sergey Shahverdian, the chair of the Agency, said Nagorno-Karabakh
had a separate stand on the expo. From the very first day four
Azerbaijanis wearing their national flag, surrounded the stand in
an effort to obstruct the work of our stand. Sergey Shahverdian
said it was not unexpected because similar attempts had been made
during the previous expo in Moscow. Besides, a week before the expo
the Azerbaijani embassy to Russia and the leaders of the Azerbaijani
community in Moscow had addressed the City Hall of Moscow demanding to
bar Nagorno-Karabakh from participating in the expo, otherwise they
said the organizers of the expo would be responsible for kindling an
ethnic conflict. The organizers offered a double compensation for the
expenses to close the stand to avoid incidents but our compatriots
rejected the offer. After consulting the Armenian ambassador Armen
Smbatian and the NKR representative to Moscow Albert Andrian, they
agreed that Nagorno-Karabakh must participate in the expo.
Armen Smbatian informed about the tense relations between the Armenians
and Azerbaijanis and an incident between the Armenian and Azerbaijani
students at one of the universities a week before. Our representatives
met the request of the embassy and agreed not to display the national
symbols of NKR during the expo. However, the chair and executive
director of the Agency Sergey Shahverdian and Davit Ishkhanian do
not think it was a retreat because no other country participating in
the expo displayed national symbols. Another problem that occurred
in Moscow was the presentation of tourism resources. The organizers
proposed not holding it again to avoid incidents. The presentation,
nevertheless, took place but two days before the schedule. This was
not the last " surprise". One of the Armenian reporters had warned
that Azerbaijan was likely to include Nagorno-Karabakh in their
presentation. The representatives of NKR turned to the Armenian embassy
and the Armenian youth organizations based in Moscow, and on the eve
of the presentation of Azerbaijan they turned to the organizers of
the expo to prevent it because Nagorno-Karabakh had already been
presented. Besides, it would make international relations tenser
and would spark incidents not only in Moscow but also during the
expo. Azerbaijan did not hold the presentation the way it had planned,
and did not include Nagorno-Karabakh. The representatives of the
Agency for Development of Tourism said the anti-Armenian campaign,
in fact, favored the Armenian stand because it aroused more interest
in the visitors, and unlike our neighbors’, it was open till the
last day of the expo. The stand was financed by Karabakh Telecom,
Karabakh Gold, and Levon Hairapetian, to whom the leadership of the
Agency is grateful.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
