AZERBAIJAN EXPLOITS FOREIGN DIPLOMATS AND DIGNITARIES TO COVER-UP WAR CRIMES AND GENOCIDE
AZERIS HOST AND SPONSOR DIPLOMATIC JUNKETS, LUXURY TOURS, AND POLITICAL FORUMS IN OCCUPIED ARTSAKH AS BID FOR TACIT APPROVAL OF WAR CRIMES AND GENOCIDE
STEPANAKERT, OCCUPIED ARTSAKH—Azerbaijan and its allies have been extremely active in ethnically cleansed and, now, Azeri occupied Artsakh as characterized by a slew of confirmed, expedited mining operations of Armenian gold, uranium, and rare earth minerals, among other resources; the accelerated construction and fast-tracked international aviation approval of three international airports, among other large-scale projects; and a push to deliver high value and high visibility diplomats and dignitaries to occupied Artsakh to participate in staged events and tours as some sort of tacit “Seal-of-Approval” from the international diplomatic community.
One such glaring example occurred in April of this year and was one of many ploys to attract international state and non-state actors into occupied Artsakh. On April, 18, 2025, Azeri state occupation forces staged another diplomatic junket to Stepanakert, the capital of the Republic of Artsakh, for foreign dignitaries and diplomats in a gambit to legitimize their recent ethnic cleansing and forced depopulation of the Republic’s indigenous Armenian inhabitants, as well as its continued cultural genocide against Artsakh’s historic and religious sites.
Many foreign Ambassadors to Azerbaijan, diplomatic corps members, and ancillary staff, as well as military attachés, arrived in the occupied capital on April 18—just days prior to the worldwide commemoration of the Armenian Genocide—to participate in staged tours, controlled activities, and meetings led by Azeri government representatives and chaperoned by Azeri armed forces and security services.
According to viable and verified publicly available data, press releases, and media coverage, an accurate aggregate of participants has been compiled with photographs of Ambassadors, diplomatic missions, attaches, and others present and complicit in the illegal occupation, forced charade in Artsakh this April.
• Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Birol Akgun was in Stepanakert and participated in all Azeri state-sponsored events and activities. Turkey played a fundamental role, alongside Israel—among other key states—in providing arms, personnel, and training, as well as intelligence to Azerbaijan in its increasing aggression towards Armenians. Particularly chilling is Turkey’s horrific role in anti-Armenian atrocities during the 2020 attacks resulting in the destruction of ancient Armenian cultural sites and human life in the thousands. Turkey provided Baku with air support–including the use of Turkish F-16 fighters, military advisors, Syrian mercenaries, UAV control centers, missiles, and the facilitation of UAV precision strikes on Armenian populations and cultural sites, as well as the provision of other illegal assets and actions.
• Croatian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Branko Zebic, and Latvian Ambassador Edgars Skuja can be seen, here, walking together on Kirov Street in the occupied Artsakh capital, Stepanakert. Unfortunately, their presence allowed their diplomatic authority to, once again, be used to whitewash genocide and Azeri war crimes, giving a “stamp of approval” to the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh, in flagrant diregard of all International norms and human rights guidelines.
• Chinese Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Lu Mei was photographed sitting-in on a briefing during one of the many activities and staged meetings sponsored by the Azeri state apparatus.
• Brazilian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Manuel Adalberto Carlos Montenegro Lopes da Cruz, was seen beaming as he provided a statement to Azeri government-controlled “report.az” media, praising Azerbaijan’s government for their purported “reconstruction efforts” in the area, but never alluding to the total and continuing destruction of centuries old indigenous Armenian cultural sites, monasteries, and historic monuments throughout Artsakh, not to mention Azeri ethnic cleansing and atrocities against native Armenians.
• Ukrainian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Yuri Gusev, sadly, continued his state’s longstanding and misguided support of Azerbaijan with his presence and participation in The Stepanakert Junket. The Ambassador was quoted as thanking Aliyev, personally, for refusing to fly to Moscow to attend the May 9th, World War II Victory celebrations. Azerbaijan, however, continues to maintain geopolitical and trade relations with Russia, including Russian gas purchases, while often acting against Russian state interests and escalating tensions between the two states.
• Romanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Vasile Soare, can be seen here during the events in Stepanakert. Romania was the second country, after Turkey, to recognize Azerbaijan’s independence. The two less-than- democratic states have seen deepening cooperation over the last few years as Romania increasingly relies on Azerbaijan for natural gas and is in talks for developing further energy projects, such as the proposed Azerbaijan–Georgia–Romania Interconnector.
• The Malaysian Embassy’s Head of Chancery, in Azerbaijan, Cik Nurul Ain M. Fadhil, participated, as well, in these affronts to international law and diplomacy, although the mission’s Ambassador was not spotted during the visit. The Malaysian Foreign Minister, Mohamad Alamin, had wrapped up a high-level visit to Azerbaijan in the days prior to the junket.
• UK Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Fergus Auld, was not present, however his Deputy Head of Mission Edward Evans was in attendance. The UK has been a steadfast supporter of Azerbaijan in all fields, having invested heavily in Azeri energy, mining, and other sectors. UK companies, alone, according to official numbers solely, have invested over $80 billion in just hydrocarbon and related projects since the late 1990s.
• Uzbekistan, another nation growing increasingly reliant on Azerbaijani energy imports and also part of the much abhorred “Organization of Turkic States” of which Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Pakistan–among others–are member states, was present with its Ambassador Bahrom Ashrafkhanov.
• Algerian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Zakia Ighil, is seen in the photograph, above, casually strolling occupied Shushi. Once an Armenian center of cultural, religious, and artistic significance for centuries, today, this “Fortress City,” as it was known, lays barren and bereft of its indigenous Armenian population due to Azeri ethnic cleansing and forced occupation.
• Swedish Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Tobias Lorentzso, is seen here visiting former Artsakh State University, currently occupied by Azeri forces and renamed Qarabag University, after the city’s capture. The area visible in the photo was dotted with numerous residential buildings and structures, home to native Armenians, however they were demolished without trace by Azeri forces.
• Libyan Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Ali Salem Nasser and Belarusian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Dmitry Pinevich were also present and very visible during the visit. The Belarusian Prime Minister visited Azerbaijan shortly after this junket, where, among other things, he discussed the organization of the “Days of Azerbaijani Culture” Festival in Belarus, slated for later this year.
• The Georgian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Zurab Pataradze, and Tajik Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Ilhom Abdurahmon, also participated in these choreographed events. Georgia and Azerbaijan have steadily increased their partnership, with the implementation of regional projects such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway—all passing through Turkish occupied Western Armenia—as well as the Black Sea Submarine Cable Initiative.
• Finally, Military Attachés to Azerbaijan from Georgia, Ukraine, Italy, and Romania joined in junket activities signaling the increasing interest of these states in Azerbaijan’s military actions and armed forces, despite the heinous war crimes which they have perpetrated and with which they are charged.
These junkets, so-called academic forums, and luxury tours to occupied Artsakh are all part of increasingly aggressive and ongoing, petro-dollar-funded Azeri state initiatives to make foreign diplomats, government officials, and celebrities part of Azerbaijan’s whitewashing of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and anti-Armenian false narratives regarding the indigenous people of Artsakh, their cultural heritage, and their millenial history.
Information and photographs about each diplomatic mission were assembled by analyzing publicly available information, including reporting from independent observer organization Nagorno Karabakh Observer (@NKobserver), as well as Azeri state-published press releases from the junket.
Deeper and more far reaching analyses of those complicit and directly involved in Azeri state sponsored cultural appropriation, genocide, and continued terror and persecution of Armenian political hostages and POWs, still being tortured and illegally held by Azerbaijan, shall be forthcoming, as will further exposés of individual, corporate and state interests actively exploiting the genocide of Armenians ongoing and those aiming to profit from anti-Armenian actions.
