{"id":818,"date":"2017-07-10T20:35:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T20:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/armenian\/?p=818"},"modified":"2024-06-13T17:22:24","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T17:22:24","slug":"russia-calls-azerbaijans-ban-on-ethnic-armenians-savagery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/armenian\/2017\/07\/10\/russia-calls-azerbaijans-ban-on-ethnic-armenians-savagery\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia Calls Azerbaijan\u2019s Ban on Ethnic Armenians \u201cSavagery\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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View of the Russian foreign ministry building. Courtesy image from MID.ru<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Russia Calls Azerbaijan\u2019s Ban on Ethnic Armenians \u201cSavagery\u201d<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n By<\/span>Emil Sanamyan<\/strong>\n \n July 10, 2017<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a\u00a0statement<\/a>\u00a0containing harsh criticism of the Azerbaijani government\u2019s treatment of Russian citizens of Armenian descent.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussian citizens visiting Azerbaijan are discriminated against on the basis of ethnicity,\u201d the July 6 statement said. \u201cSo far this year 25 Russian citizens were refused entry into Azerbaijan,\u201d before being detained and expelled at their own expense, according to the ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe basis for this mistreatment\u00a0were Armenian last names, names or patronymics of our citizens. There were also cases when individuals with Russian last and first names and patronymics would be interrogated to determine if they might have \u2018Armenian ancestry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement called such treatment \u201csavagery\u201d and a direct violation of Russian-Azerbaijani treaties.<\/p>\n

The policy of detaining or expelling all individuals of Armenian descent, independent of their citizenship, has been in place since the start of the Karabakh conflict in 1988, but this is the first time a foreign government has reacted to it so publicly. In addition to detentions and expulsions, over the past year the Azerbaijani government arrested and imprisoned\u00a0two Russian citizens<\/a>, one of whom is of Armenian descent and another is accused of making statements deemed to be favoring Armenia over Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

Some of the known recent cases of expulsions from Azerbaijan, most upon arrival at the Baku airport, include:<\/p>\n