Why are Armenians so much alarmed by tweets of  Azerbaijan's MFA spokesman?

"Making a culinary show from seized lands is utter disrespect to one million Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs."

The recent statement of spokesman for Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev about inclusion of CNN host, chief cook Anthony Bourdain into the list of undesired people in the country for the illegal visit to Nagorno Karabakh, has caused a strong annoyance among Armenian circles. 

It was so strong that a serious wave of discontent has risen in Armenian media outlets. 

But unable to find any weighty arguments to respond to this, the Armenian throats decided to switch to individuals, choosing Hikmat Hajiyev as their next target for insults.

Reference: Anthony Michael Bourdain is an American chef, writer and TV host. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978, and for many years he was the chef of various famous restaurants, including Brasserie Les Halles. He is best known as the author of the book "On Food: Strictly Confidential" and as the host of culinary shows.

This month, Anthony Bourdain has visited Armenia and, without Azerbaijan's permission, travelled to Azerbaijan's occupied territories where he shot a 45-minute story for the 'Parts Unknown'  TV show on CNN. In his Instagram, Bourdain posted a photo on which he was going to get aboard a military helicopter.

Later, when sharing his travel experience with Twitter, Bourdain called it awesome, thanking the member of the American rock band System of a Down, ethnic Armenian Serge Tankian, for making his trip to Armenia possible.

In response, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stressed that the CNN filming of the show program in the territories that were subject to ethnic cleansing was shameful and immoral adding that "this must be stopped."

In addition, Hikmat Hajiyev said that Bourdain's illegal trip to the Azerbaijani occupied territories is being investigated, and later that he will be included into the list of undesirable persons of Azerbaijan.

The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan has stated lately that Anthony Bourdain is already on the blacklist.

"We confirm that Anthony Bourdain is included in the black list for violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as the laws of Azerbaijan," the foreign ministry said.

"We do regret that he has made himself a propaganda tool to justify and disguise occupation of Azerbaijan's lands by Armenia," he wrote. "Making a culinary show from seized lands is utter disrespect to one million Azerbaijani refugees & [internally displaced peoples who were] forcefully displaced." Hikmat Hajiyev said.

Bourdain did not comment on the situation, but his Armenian friends were alarmed. However, having risen to the protection of the chef, they did not find anything to say specifically on the topic, and decided to bring down their bile to the spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

In a vengeful move they recalled Hikmat Hajiyev's posts regarding the criminal activities of the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Aram Ambaryan.

It should be noted that the case of Varujan Karapetyan who committed a bloody terrorist attack at the Paris airport of Orly on July 15, 1983, as a result of which 8 people died and 55 were injured has been widely discussed in social networks recently. Subsequently, Karapetyan was released, and welcomed in Armenia as a hero.

At the same time, French expert in the field of international relations and Eurasian affairs, known in expert circles, Maxime Gauin has recently initiated a lawsuit in France against the former head of ASALA in this country, Tananyan.

As for ANCA, its being a semi-criminal organization does not need proofs. Media reports repeatedly stated that the organization 'blackmails and threatens' to the ordinary members of the Armenian community of the United States to get donations. As for Ambaryan personally, earlier he was accused of organized crime and tax evasion.

So, Armenians' concern in this respect is quite understandable. The last tweets of Hikmat Hajiyev, in which he writes about the relationship between ASALA and ANCA and openly accuses one of the leaders of the Armenian community of the United States Aram Ambaryan of racism and terrorism, and the fact that he sends all these exposures to members of the Armenian lobby in the US Congress can cause world's justified interest in the activities of this 'mafia boss.'

And it is quite possible that eventually the same interest will lead Ambaryan where he should be now - to the dock.

News.Az

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