It must be noted that despite Azerbaijan’s threats of blacklisting those who visit Karabakh, the number of official and artistic visitors grows year by year which cannot go unnoticed by the Azerbaijani side.
They can see that draconian measures not only fail to discourage visits to Karabakh but also increase in inverse proportion the number of names on the list which means that these people will refrain from visiting Azerbaijan.
Abulfaz Garayev, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, claims to see through this devious scheme: ‘’Armenians are implementing a willful policy trying to rob Azerbaijan of famed artistic figures and take various singers to Karabakh by deception”.181
Reporters without borders, which is an international organization defending the freedom of the press has voiced its concern over the situation where the Azerbaijani authorities restrict the work of journalists who cover the Karabakh conflict. “In doing their work, journalists must enjoy freedom and unimpeded movement without having to obtain the permission of any party. Blacklisting journalists is inadmissible and inefficient,” says the press release of the organization.182
Using visits to Armenia as a pretext to deny entry to persons who constitute a threat for the country’s political regime is yet another peculiarity of the blacklist. It was the case in the situation with a journalist Milrad Fatullayev who was an ethnic Lezgin.183
A working visit turned sour for Milrad Fatullayev with his less-than-pleasant stay at the airport of Baku where he had to spend a whole day locked up by the border guards. No intelligible explanation was given as to the reasons of Fatullayev’s detention. <…> “Absence of any justification is the most interesting justification. Because I came here, to the Baku airport, at 3 o’clock in the morning, my passport was taken from me for control and I never got it back. In addition, I was given no explanation; here I am sitting and waiting. <…> I remember a similar case when I was checked in the same way in Baku after I had been to Armenia, but that was a year and half or two years ago. <…> At that time, I could go through the controls and returned to Moscow after visiting Azerbaijan. So, I thought that now it was about the same thing. I kept waiting, but by 5 o’clock I made up my mind to figure out what the matter was. <…> I introduced myself as a journalist of Nezavissimaya Gazeta newspaper to an officer who tried to expose me as a person who was breaking the law. Well, I stood there trying to explain to him that I came there to a specific person for a specific reason.<…> As I could learn, I was denied entry to Azerbaijan because of taking part in a conference held in Yerevan and initiated by Mr. Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan. Another Dagestani journalist, Marko Shahbanov, the leader of Avar National and Cultural Autonomy, had earlier faced problems attempting to gain entry to Azerbaijan.<…> While crossing the border, he also underwent a verification procedure, but was allowed to go through in the end. Last year, I also had my documents checked, but they finally let me go through. Now again, there are Azerbaijanis coming up to me and asking: “What is it? Have you been to Karabakh?” No, I haven’t been there”.
Alexander Lapshin (Puerrttо), a traveler well-known in the blogosphere for visiting various countries and crossing countless borders, describes how to bluff your way past customs officers at the Georgian-Azerbaijani border:
“Things were quick and easy on the Georgian side. Next, I walked over a border bridge and set foot in Azerbaijan. There, everything was very different from Georgia. The setting epitomized an unmistakable Soviet spirit. Georgian policemen wearing smiles and nice uniforms were replaced by gloomy tommy gunners wearing soviet military fur hats with earflaps, while numerous signs reading ‘’Bribery is punishable by 7 years of imprisonment” were replaced by ubiquitous portraits of the Aliyevs: both father and son. A very cold and standoffish man in plain clothes demanded: “Passport”. I handed my passport over to him. He examined it for a long time scrutinizing every page. For some reason, he tried to scratch my Georgian visa with his fingernail <…>. Next, he said something to me in the Azerbaijani language. I replied that, regretfully, I didn’t speak Azerbaijani and asked in my turn: “Do you speak English?” in case the man did not speak Russian. He smirked at me and said in an immaculate Russian: “In fact, I asked you in Armenian”. Wow, can it be possible that an Armenian works in the Azerbaijani State Security Service? That was incredible. So I asked him: “I beg your pardon, are you Armenian?” His eyes popped out in shock. “What?? What makes you think that I am Armenian? I am Azerbaijani. Then, I asked him why on earth had he spoken to me in Armenian? He cut me short: “That’s it, enough talking, if I ask, I do it for a reason”.
Another minute went by as he examined my passport for the fifth time. Then, all of a sudden, he shot a question at me: “Have you been to Armenia?” I answered in the affirmative sensing that I was up for a tough conversation. Then the officer went off with his next question: “And you must have been to Karabakh too, right?” I replied that these were only his assumptions and unfounded at that. He looked up: “So you must be a lawyer then?” I let the remark go unanswered. He tapped me on the shoulder and said: “Welcome to Azerbaijan!” So, I got another stamp in my passport.184
On August 2, 2013, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan published a list consisting of 335 names placed on the blacklist.185 Despite the assurances of the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Elman Abdullayev to the effect that “illegal visits to the occupied territories of the Republic”186 were the underlying reasons for that, over 50 persons were blacklisted without any reason specified.
6. Ban on positive attitude to Armenians
Another essential component of the blocking policy against Armenia and inculcation of armenophobia implying a complete dehumanization of Armenians is the ban on any references that may potentially showcase the human qualities of Armenians and portray them as possessing creative and benevolent traits. All potential avenues towards personal contacts apt to cause the shattering of propaganda clichés, which translate into a huge cost in terms of money, resources and time, are shut off.
The representatives of the country’s intellectual, political and cultural elite are recruited to partake in this process, administrative leverage is exercised, while all recalcitrant persons take heavy punishment becoming obstructed and divested of any opportunity to pursue their professional activities.
Or, inversely, upon accomplishment of the public repudiation of Armenians as a concept, feelings of sympathy towards Armenians can be used as a sufficient ground to ostracize an out-of-favor opponent often in political and not infrequently in professional, social and daily life.
Siyavush Novruzov, Member of Parliament, deputy executive secretary of the ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan: Rustam Ibragimbekov, who held the meeting of the National Council in a hotel that belongs to an Armenian, proved once again his alliance with Armenians <…> Rustam Ibragimbekov has good relations with Armenians. He openly stated that he held Armenians in great respect and esteem. In one of his interviews, he even said that after the Armenians left Baku, our capital city sank low in cultural sense. How can a person with such thinking lead Azerbaijan?187