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Ali Hasanov clarifies reasons of non-abolition of visa regime of Azerbaijan with Turkey â€“ UPDATED

Ali Hasanov clarifies reasons of non-abolition of visa regime of Azerbaijan with Turkey â€“ <font color=red>UPDATED </font>

20 July 2011 11:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Habil Suleymanzadeh â€“ APA. â€œWe do not have any concern with lifting visa requirements for Turks,â€ Hasanov said, adding, however, that â€œIran strongly objected to that, wanted the taking of same step in relation to it and issued a threat to block the corridor linking Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, said Chief Of Social and Political Department of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Ali Hasanov in his interview to Turkish â€œTodayâ€™s Zamanâ€ newspaperâ€, APA reports quoting â€œTodayâ€™s Zamanâ€.

Currently, the land transport connection to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic with the rest of Azerbaijan is ensured only through the territory of Iran because of the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Nakhchivan receives most supplies, including gas, trade and other services, from Azerbaijan via the Iranian route.

â€œIf we waive the visas, we have to do it for both Turkey and Iran simultaneously. But I do not think the Azerbaijani government is prepared to undertake the visa-free regime with both countries at this time,â€ Hasanov explained. He said much of the concern focuses on the Iranian border, which, he said, is subject to heavy drug trafficking.

â€œAbout 300 tons of drugs make their way from Iran to Azerbaijan en route to Europe. We seize only five to 10 tons of these drugs, while the rest go undetected,â€ he said, complaining about the problems the illicit drugs create among Azerbaijani youth.

Last year Iran allowed visa-free travel for Azerbaijani citizens for one-month stays and began exerting pressure to get the same treatment for Iran. Azerbaijanis mostly travel to Iran for commerce with both Iranian merchants as well as their ethnic brethren in Nakhchivan.

Hasanov signaled that the national interests of Azerbaijan do not allow for an open-border policy with a big neighbor such as Iran.

â€œThe political instability in Iran may trigger a huge influx of refugees to our side of the border. As you know, we are a small country, and we have to think of our national security,â€ he explained.

Ali Hasanov told APA that all the views in the interview concerning any threat from the Iranian side, emerged as the journalist misunderstood his words.
â€œWhen the Turkish journalists raised the visa issue, I said that both Turkey and Iran cancelled visa regime with Azerbaijan. In order to cancel the visa regime mutually, we should almost have similar attitude towards both states simultaneously. Azerbaijan must be ready for this technically. Iran-Azerbaijan, Turkey-Azerbaijan border, checkpoints in Nakhchivan are not technically ready to switch to visa-free travel. The check system of citizens at the checkpoints is not ready for it, either. You know that UN and other international organizations have been warning that from Afghanistan through Iran drugs are smuggled to Russia and other countries via Azerbaijan. There is also a matter of transportation of drugs from the uncontrolled Nagorno Karabakh territory through Iran. Therefore, in terms of security, regulation of migration processes Azerbaijan is not ready to cancel visa regime with two big states. The matter of any threat is the notes written by a journalist as a result of misunderstanding. The question is that concerning border crossing, migration, security issues Azerbaijan is not technically ready to cancel visa regime with both states,â€ he said.