On October 12th, 2017 at the Frankfurt Book Fair two Azerbaijani men came to the Armenian stand and took away several maps of Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh). Armenian representatives tried to stop them, requesting the return of the stand property, but one of them shouted out political statements and returned to the Azerbaijani stand. The representative of the Armenian stand, including me followed them to their stand and I took back the maps from their hands. I immediately called the book fair security and police, as well as the Deputy Director of Frankfurt Book Fair, Mr Tobias Voss. The police talked to the witnesses of the event and took written notes. Mr Voss promised to do his best to solve the situation. I offered to organize a discussion with the representatives of the Azerbaijani stand with participation of Frankfurt Book Fair officials.
This calculated incident was recorded and photographed on camera by journalists. Though Azerbaijani representatives asked to delete the recordings, we will be soon sharing the materials with the press.
Today, I have already seen the article in the Azerbaijani press about the incident, which states that they have found and extinguished maps from the “separatists’”stand.
And this is done by a country whose stand is overwhelmed by political propaganda to the detriment of culture and literature (see some pictures attached).
We are looking forward to a positive solution of the problem from the Frankfurt Book Fair management