Foreign departments of Russia and Azerbaijan continue to exchange "courtesies"
ArmInfo. The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan responded to a statement by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, who called "boorish" publications of Azerbaijani media about her deputy Artem Kozhin.
"It is necessary to understand and treat journalists with understanding about the situation of Dilgam Asgarov, a citizen of Azerbaijan and Russia arrested in Nagorno-Karabakh," said the head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Hikmet Hajiyev, commenting on "impartial expressions against Azerbaijani journalists" of the colleague Maria Zakharova, APA reports. According to him, it is necessary to take into account that the fate of Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev (Azerbaijani saboteurs arrested in Artsakh) is in the focus of close attention of the Azerbaijani people. "The mass media are a mirror of public opinion," he said, reassuring that Guliyev and Askerov had crossed the state border to visit the graves of their parents in the Karvachar district, which is currently in the administrative borders of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The day before, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, expressed her indignation with the publications of the Azerbaijani media regarding the comment of her deputy Artem Kozhin about the Azeri saboteur Dilgam Askerov, a citizen of Azerbaijan and Russia, convicted in Karabakh. "I read the materials of the Azerbaijani media. These are just boorish articles. These articles are not with analysis, they are articles, maybe not even with criticism, constructive or unconstructive. And then you ask for more information? After such articles, I do not even want to talk," Zakharova said at a weekly briefing, referring to the reporter of the Azerbaijani news agency APA, who tried to ask a question about the saboteur Askerov. According to her, such media, using problematic, complex issues, create a advisory background for rejection between the two countries and peoples. "This is not journalistic work. This is rudeness. I can not otherwise characterize this. It's one thing to inform our public, and the other is to constantly use problematic issues to incite hostility between two peoples and countries. But they will not succeed. No article can spoil relations between Moscow and Baku. But, of course, they can create a certain background. It is not clear why they should undermine bilateral relations. We must ask them if such articles are beneficial to Azerbaijan itself," said Zakharova.
This statement by the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation caused a number of negative publications in the Azerbaijani media, often transcending journalistic ethics. To recall, Dilham Askerov, carrying weapons and ammunition, on June 29, 2014 with two accomplices illegally crossed the state border of the NKR and penetrated the territory of Shahumyan region of the Nagorno- Karabakh Republic with the purpose of carrying out reconnaissance activities. Askerov and two of his accomplices managed to kill a 17-year-old teenager before his arrest. And during the operation to detain them, a major of the NKR Defense Army died. Now Askerov is serving a life sentence.