<p>No:366/20, Head of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Leyla Abdullayeva answers the question of the media regarding the visit of the members of the radical right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Bundestag and the Landtag fractions of the federal state of Brandenburg to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan</p>
Answer: On October 18, a four-member delegation of the radical right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Bundestag and the Landtag fractions of the federal state of Brandenburg Steffen Kotré, Stefan Keuter, Andreas Galau, Andreas Kalbitz visited our occupied lands.
We should note that these deputies, who have a very negative image in Germany, are members of a grouping within the Alternative for Germany party that propagandize for Armenia. Andreas Kalbits has been removed from the Alternative for Germany party at the Executive board meeting on May 15, 2020, on the grounds that he was a member of the neo-Nazi Republican Party. It should also be noted that the member of Bundestag Stefan Koyter is also known for their enthusiastic use by him of Nazi and anti-Semitic slogans in public.
The names of the aforementioned deputies have taken their place in the list of “undesirable persons” of the Republic of Azerbaijan for their illegal visit to Azerbaijan’s occupied lands in 2019. The names of these AfD politicians are mentioned in connection with their frequent illegal visits not only to Azerbaijan’s occupied territories but also to the conflict zones in the post-Soviet area as a whole.
We should mention that in responses given by relevant parties to the letters of protest sent to presidents of Bundestag and Brandenburg Landtag regarding the illegal visit made by these four persons in May of the last year, it was stressed that the mentioned visit was not agreed with those institutions and was not implemented by permission of any one of their committees and the whole responsibility with regard to the visit fall on the members who participated in it. At the same time, we would like to stress that the AfD fraction of Bundestag put forward a common stance regarding the settlement of conflicts based on norms and principles of international law.
Regarding the aforementioned illegal visit, the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Germany will present the diplomatic note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federative Republic of Germany and send the letters of protest to the Bundestag and the Landtag of Brandenburg.
This fact shows once again that the historically existing cooperation of Armenia with persons having extremist and neo-Nazi views continues today as well.
Armenia, where fascism is glorified in the person of Garegin Nzhdeh, cooperates with the persons of radical rightist views and those who have a negative image. It openly demonstrates once again that Armenia conducts the policy of glorification of fascism at the state level and uses these attempts in order to promote the illegal regime created by itself in the occupied territories of Azerbaijani.