Azerbaijani authorities’ decision to amend issuing a visa for foreigners visiting the republic and ease visa requirements for Israelis threatens to cause a scandal.  It appeared that only clients of Azerbaijani AZAL air company can get visas at the airport.

On October 31, Azerbaijani authorities declared that citizens of the countries with no Azerbaijani embassy but having direct air connection can get visas at the Baku airport. It refers to Israeli citizens as well, but in fact it tuned to be a real problem, izrus.co.il reported.

Israelis coming to Baku from Vienna and Istanbul were deported from the country on the basis of president’s decree which, as they say, refers only to passengers of direct flights (they had to come to Azerbaijan from Tel-Aviv). Examination by Israeli Embassy in Baku and IzRus website revealed that president’s decree as of October 31 contains no such paragraph. Israeli Foreign Ministry expressed concern over such conduct of Azerbaijani officials.

However, it is not the only problem that Israeli recently faced intending to visit Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani Embassy in Moscow refuses to grant visa to Israeli citizens as well. IzRus website has received a number of complaints from Israelis who were refused visas.