Your trusted source

Commander of the Iranian Border Guard Units General Hossein Zolfaqari caused an unprecedented stir during his official visit to Azerbaijan. As the “Azpolitika.info” reports, Iranian general had violated an agreed-upon protocol of a two-day visit and refused to visit Heydar Aliyev’s grave.

Zolfaqari visited Azerbaijan at the invitation of Elchin Guliyev, the head of State Border Service of Azerbaijan. According to official information, the visit aimed at discussing the issue of strengthening the joint efforts in combating drug trafficking and border security.

However, negotiations between the two generals were held in a very tense atmosphere. A dispute flared up between the counterparts as the Iranian delegation had violated the protocol without giving any explanation and had refused to visit the grave of "national leader" Heydar Aliyev on the first day of his visit. Iranian general had also refused to attend the Alley of Martyrs in Baku.

This step caused a broad resonance, and even entreaties of his Azerbaijani counterpart didn’t helped. The latter complained to the ambassador of Iran to Azerbaijan on a protocol violation. "You are putting me in an awkward situation in front of the president," said Elchin Guliyev. Ambassador Mohsen Pak Ayin, however, stated that the issue was not in his jurisdiction.

Hossein Zolfaqari didn’t pay visit also to Academy of the State Border Service of Azerbaijani Republic. "This information is also confirmed by the Azerbaijani media which do not publish any evidence or photo-facts of Iranian general visiting Heydar Aliyev’s grave or the Alley of Martyrs," the site notes.