Armenian Bar Association Activist Placed on Azerbaijani Blacklist

LOS ANGELES—The Armenian Rights Watch Committee (ARWC) of the Armenian Bar Association announced on Dec. 10 that is was alerted last month that one of its co-chairs, Garo Ghazarian, had been placed on a list of people declared personae non gratae by Azerbaijan.

The list is an interesting assortment of international figures, including members of parliament from across the world, journalists, writers, professors, musicians, an astronaut, and even American celebrity chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain. The “crime” of these nearly 450 publicly declared “undesirables” is that they traveled to Artsakh without permission from Baku.

“We know that the Azerbaijanis had lists of ‘undesirables’ during Sumgait pogroms in 1988. We know that the Turks had lists of ‘undesirables’ during the Istanbul pogroms in 1955. And, of course, we know that the Ottomans had lists of ‘undesirables’ in 1915. The fact that Azerbaijan has a list of ‘undesirables’ today may be ridiculous—but it’s not funny,” read a part of a statement published by the committee.

According to the ARWC, Ghazarian did in fact recently travel to the Artsakh. “When presenting himself at the border, however, he was greeted by Artsakh passport control. It is they who granted Mr. Ghazarian access to the Artsakh Republic—not Azerbaijan. In fact, Azerbaijani authorities were nowhere to be found,” the statement went on.

According to the ARWC, Ghazarian traveled to Stepanakert and met with the Artsakh Republic’s Human Rights Ombudsman to lay the foundation for a groundbreaking legal clinic at Artsakh State University. A few weeks ago, the Armenian Bar Association announced the opening of the legal clinic in Stepanakert, which was made possible by a collaboration among the association, Yerevan State University, and Artsakh State University.

“Azerbaijan must have become aware of Mr. Ghazarian’s travels in the Artsakh Republic—but not as a result of any sovereign functions on the ground, like Azerbaijani police contact, the work of Azerbaijani clandestine services, and/or informants operating within the territory of the Artsakh Republic,” read another part of the statement.

According to the ARWC, Azerbaijan likely became aware of Ghazarian’s travels by trolling the Armenian Bar Association’s Facebook page. “Perhaps by hitting the ‘like’ button, they could have greater access to our work in Artsakh including, of course, our upcoming annual meeting scheduled to take place in Stepanakert in May 2018,” the statement went on.

The ARWC has called the notorious Azerbaijani blacklist a “public relations charade.”

“The Artsakh Republic is, in truth and in fact, already a state under international law. While an exposé on the subject is beyond the scope of this statement, we stress that our reference to Artsakh statehood is not a political position, but a legally impregnable fact under international law,” the statement read.