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Incident

Azerbaijani citizen searches his son who joined mujahideen - PHOTO

Azerbaijani citizen searches his son who joined mujahideen - <span style="color: red;">PHOTO

10 January 2014 14:52 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Hafiz Heydarov – APA. Father of Azerbaijani citizen who joined fights against Bashar Assad forces in Syria appealed to APA.

Balaken citizen Ramazan Khojakhov told APA that his son Raul Khojahkov, 1987, has left home for Russia and went to Syria: “Raul was engaged in trade in Moscow. We heard last year that he left Russia for Syria. In October, 2013, he called home from Syria. He said us not to worry as everything is good. Except us, he had a phone conversation with some friends. We have lost contact with him since November”.

Khojakhov said that his son was inclined to radical religious sects: “Our neighbour Ramil Dadayev is a member of radical religious sect too and is in Syria now. He is my son’s childhood friend. I heard that Raul is with Ramil in Syria. In December, 2013, Rami called us and said that Raul did not return from the fight. We don’t know whether he died or not”.

Khojakhov said he had not informed law-enforcement agencies that his son joined the fights in Syria yet: “We expected him to return. Therefore, we did not inform the police. Now, we intend to appeal to law-enforcement agencies. We also plan to appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross. I call on those who knows something about him to inform us”.

As the situation became tense a large number of Azerbaijani citizens started to go Syria and fight against the government forces within various radical groups. Nearly 100 Azerbaijanis were killed in the battles during this period. Photos of most of them were posted on social networks by the Mujahideen

Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Elman Abdullayev told APA that the ministry is closely following what is going on in Syria. “The situation in Syria remains tense. We have stated earlier that Azerbaijan’s embassy has suspended its activity. The embassy moved to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Despite this, we are closely following what is going on in Syria. First of all, we are trying to determine whether the persons reportedly killed there are Azerbaijani citizens or not. If these persons are proved to be Azerbaijani citizens or Azerbaijanis, it should be investigated how they went to Syria. Taking into account the facts that the situation in Syria remains tense and there is no diplomatic representation in this country, it is not hard to see what obstacles it will create for our investigations. But despite these difficulties and obstacles, we continue investigations,” he said.

Abdullayev said the warning issued by Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2011, against traveling to Syria is still valid.