Epress.am News from Armenia
After a day of unconfirmed rumor that Ilham Aliyev is planning to sack Azerbaijan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mamedyarov, the news is finally confirmed on Azerbaijan’s President’s website. Mamedyarov held the post of Foreign Minister since 2004.
With another order, Aliyev appointed Ceyhun Bayramov on the same post. Bayramov was the Minister of Education and Science.
On July 15, one day before his orders were published, in a Cabinet meeting Aliyev critized Mamedyarov for being unreachable during these days of military escalations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. “I would like to speak about the reaction of the international community. Immediately after the provocation on July 12, I gave respective orders to the President’s office. Our representatives in international organizations, including interparliamentary organizations, received instructions and informed the heads of these organizations. But I believe that our diplomatic work could have been better. I have mentioned many times, that our diplomacy needs to be on the offensive and not defensive, not passive.
We shouldn’t have a diplomacy of silence in order to please someone. I have spoken many times about this. I have shown the right way during various events, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during meetings with Ambassadors. I have said what needs to be done; what kind of steps need to be taken in relation to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict; how to work with foreign press; how the diplomats need to defend Azerbaijan’s economic interests, the rights of our citizens; what they need to answer to unjustified accusations against Azerbaijan that can often be heard in international organizations; how to force the adversary to go silent. I’ve spoken about all of this, I have shown the way for each question. Do you see that these instructions are implemented? Mostly, not!” complained Azerbaijan’s President in the meeting.
Aliyev also complained that he couldn’t get hold of Mamedyarov during the past days. “What was the Foreign Ministry doing? Where was the Minister? After July 12, after this situation started, we were all at our workplaces. I am at work until morning, the Prime Minister too, the Minister of Defense too, the head of the Headquarters of the Army, the head of the State Security Service, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Security Secretary – all were there are work day and night. But I couldn’t find the Foreign Minister, he was not at work.”
Aliyev demanded that Prime Minister Ali Asadov report on where Mamedyarov was, to which Asadov replied: “Mr. President, he said that he was working from home.”
Aliyev, “What does it mean, from home?”
Asadov, “Yes, he said he was working from home. I called Elmar Mamedyarov, conveyed your words to him, I asked him when did he learn about the military operations and where he was, he said he was working from home.”
The tension around Mamedyarov was made public at the beginning of July, days before the escalation of the military situation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. The State Security Service raided the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and arrested a few heads of departments, including head of the Ministry Affairs Management head, Farhad Mollazade, who is Mamedyarov’s close person and according to media, is suspected of corruption and abuse of power. The news that Mamedyarov was going to resign were circulated in early July.