Tofig Zulfugarov, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, has criticized his country’s incumbent authorities’ approach toward banning ethnic Armenians’ entry into Azerbaijan.

“The right to visit Azerbaijan can’t be denied on ethnic, religious, and racial grounds,” he told Minval.az, commenting on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s advice to Russian citizens of Armenian origin not to visit Azerbaijan. “However, we [Azerbaijan] can create special conditions, not depriving [them] of that right.”

In the diplomat’s view, the respective position which the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has expressed is not advantageous to the country.

“It’s indispensable to posit conditions according to which Armenian persons will be arrested after arriving in our country, and their inspection will be carried out for two weeks,” Zulfugarov proposed. “Only then will it be possible to allow them to enter the country’s territory.

“But when we [Azerbaijan] explain all this in the way that we can’t ensure the safety of those persons, our own position is slightly risky.

“Why can’t we apply special conditions for the protection of our interests? Our protection should not be built on ethnic grounds, or declaration of own weakness. It should be based on other principles, according to which a long-term study should be conducted toward these individuals. (…). [And] according to the results of the inspection, it can be stated that the [given person’s] visit to the country is unwelcome, and we don’t intend to clarify [to that person] for what reason.”