It only took so much time before Azerbaijan blamed Armenia for the scandalous abduction of an Azerbaijani journalist from Georgia, even though a senior Azerbaijani parliament member had just said that it was the Georgian and Azerbaijani special forces who did the kidnapping.
Reporter Afgan Mukhtarli vanished from a downtown Tbilisi street on May 29 and reappeared in a Baku prison the following day as the result of “joint work by the Azerbaijani and Georgian special forces,” Elman Nasirov, an MP from the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party, said in a June 9 interview with the Azeri-language service of RFE/RL.
Faced with public outrage over Mukhtarli’s disappearance, Georgian officials have fervently denied any involvement in his abduction. The State Security Service did the same for Nasirov’s claims, noting that a criminal investigation into his kidnapping had been opened.
Georgian and international media advocacy groups have dismissed as canards Azerbaijani prosecutors’ claims that Mukhtarli, who fled persecution in Azerbaijan, returned to his homeland -- incidentally, without a passport -- and carrying just enough cash to qualify for smuggling charges.
But Baku has its own take on that one. Ruling party MP Nasirov alleged to RFE/RL that Georgia has become the launching pad for Armenian attacks against Azerbaijan, and Mukhtarli was part of it.
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Azerbaijan Tags Armenia, Georgia in Journalist Kidnapping
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