15:51 - 24.02.2022

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February 24, Fineko/abc.az. We do not have a ban on entry on the basis of ethnicity, and numerous visits of representatives of the Armenian people to Azerbaijan testify to this. They participate in sports events, such as the European Games.

ABC.AZ reports that President Ilham Aliyev said this at a meeting with the heads of the leading Russian media in the TASS news agency, answering a question from Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of TV channel RT and international news agency Russia Today, about the ban on Armenians entering Azerbaijan.

Noting that there is a certain bias in the statements of Simonyan, the head of state said: "It's the same when representatives of Armenia come, even not only ethnic Armenians, representatives of Armenia come to Azerbaijan for various events. There was a visit of Catholicos Garegin a few years ago, I met with him in my office. He visited the Armenian church in the center of Baku and was surprised that in this church we keep more than 5,000 books in the Armenian language, he himself is a witness to this. And I can cite many such examples - both MPs, public figures, and citizens of other countries with Armenian roots. We have no prohibitions. There is, or rather, there was concern that when this happens, however chaotically, there is a certain risk that there may be some incidents. Because for almost 30 years, all Azerbaijani cultural, historical, religious heritage in Karabakh and Zangezur has been destroyed."

President Aliyev stressed that Baku, unlike Yerevan, has always been a multinational city.

"Azerbaijan is still a multinational state, unlike Armenia, which is a mono-ethnic state, where almost all national minorities, primarily Azerbaijanis, were deported and expelled. Therefore, the spirit of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan is practically visible everywhere, and, moreover, thousands of Azerbaijani citizens of Armenian nationality live in Azerbaijan. There are fewer of them than the figure called – 30,000. 30,000 - it was probably 10-15 years ago, but, nevertheless, they are there, they live, and they live normally, and no one makes any claims to them. So I’m taking the opportunity to answer your question, I’d like to invite you to come to Azerbaijan. And you will see that there are no restrictions," President Aliyev said.