The wife of Azerbaijani journalist Afghan Mukhtarli, kidnapped from Georgia on May 29 and taken to Azerbaijan and imprisoned there, who was in Tbilisi since 2015 because of the persecution of the Azerbaijani authorities, met with President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili on June 27, where he noted that work is under his control. Iranian expert Artyom Tonoyan told this to Aravot.am.
According to the expert, “The kidnapping of the Azerbaijani journalist who had taken shelter in Georgia has actually put the Georgian authorities in a difficult situation, because on the one hand the case has caused the Georgian opposition politicians, journalists and the general public to blame their own authorities for what happened, on the other hand, Georgia has come under constant pressure from Western human rights organizations. Moreover, just a week ago, the European Parliament adopted the resolution “The Case of Afghan Mukhtarli and the Media Situation in Azerbaijan”, during which the deputies urged the Georgian authorities to ensure an effective, transparent, and effective investigation of the disappearance of the opposition journalist by force, and to bring the transgressors to responsibility”.
According to Artyom Tonoyan, the situation may become more complicated, as Mukhtarli’s lawyers are going to appeal at the European Court of Human Rights against Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Asked what changes will bring the incident and subsequent developments in the Georgian-Azerbaijani relations, the expert said, “Azerbaijan-Georgia relations may become strained. There are two scenarios of action performed: first, the journalist’s kidnapping with the participation or assistance of the Georgian side, second, kidnapping without the awareness of the Georgian side, or at least without its agreement. In both cases Georgia-Azerbaijan relations can be strained, as in case of the second case, Azerbaijan, in fact, deliberately destroys Georgia’s international reputation and puts the country in a difficult situation in front of European institutions. And in the first case, that is, if the kidnapping took place with the Georgian side, Azerbaijan has, most likely, violated another agreement, that is one on the confidentiality about Georgia’s agreement or participation in the case, because only two weeks ago member of the ruling “New Azerbaijan Party” and Azerbaijani Parliament’s Human Rights Commission member Elman Nasirov announced: the journalist’s “arrest” was a result of the Georgian-Azerbaijani joint operation.
The Georgian side immediately responded to it when the words of the Azerbaijani deputy were denied at the level of the State Security Service. Some Azerbaijani media sources assessed this as a straining of Georgian-Azerbaijani relation”.
Luiza SUKIASYAN
