Mission To Protect Diplomatic Missions: A Special Duty of The Receiving State (ANALYTICS)

(September 18, 2022. An employee of Azerbaijan’s Embassy in France alone prevented Armenian radicals from breaking into the embassy building)

By Ulviyya Zulfikar

The receiving State is obliged to ensure the security of the diplomatic mission of the sending State. Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, the receiving State shall take all appropriate measures to prevent any attack on a diplomat, his freedom and dignity.

It is worth pointing out the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents of 1973.

Despite such well-known and influential documents, the perpetrators and participants of the terrorist attacks committed by Armenian terrorist organizations against Azerbaijani and Turkish diplomats have not been duly punished to date, and the security of diplomatic missions has not been highly ensured.

(September 18, 2022. Armenian radicals attempted to storm the Azerbaijani Embassy in France. Among the attackers, there was a religious figure)

The Armenian terrorist organization, ASALA, founded in Beirut in 1975, has become more aggressive against Turkish diplomats since 1979. To date, ASALA has committed 110 attacks in 21 countries, killing a total of 77 Turkish diplomats. Among the victims were ambassadors and consuls, including their family members. However, some Armenian organizers of these terrorist attacks got a light sentence and some remained unpunished. 

(Some of Turkish diplomats murdered by the Armenian terrorist organization ASALA in 1970-1980)

Azerbaijan’s diplomatic missions abroad have been repeatedly attacked by Armenian radicals, and embassy employees have been threatened. In 2020, Armenian radicals held 8 violent rallies outside the embassies and diplomatic missions of Azerbaijan in Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, the United States (Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles), Georgia, Türkiye, and Ukraine, as a result of which, about 50 Azerbaijanis were injured.

On September 16, 2022, Armenian radicals attacked the Azerbaijani Embassy in Beirut. On September 17, Armenian radicals attacked our embassy in France and made an attempt (which was prevented by an embassy employee) to break into the embassy building. On the night of October 11-12, a fire was opened on an official car of the Azerbaijani Embassy in the United States.  

(Azerbaijani embassy car comes under fire in Washington on the night of October 10-11)

However, unfortunately, the perpetrators and participants of the attacks against Azerbaijani diplomats have not been punished yet. Furthermore, the Armenians involved in any incident that has occurred since 2020 and those who attempted to storm our embassy on September 18, have gone unpunished as well. By the way, all these attacks indicate one point. Why is the security of our embassy not ensured? Why does our embassy employee have to single-handedly prevent dozens of Armenians from trying to break into the building? As mentioned above, under the relevant international Conventions, the receiving State is obliged to ensure the security of diplomatic missions.  

After all, the Azerbaijani state takes all appropriate measures to protect all diplomatic missions in the country.

After all, this is not a difficult process!

That is, what’s the most important here is to be willing to act!

 

Ulviyya Zulfikar is the chief-editor of News.az

You Might Also Like