Azerbaijani opposition prepares appeal to Russian President

In Georgia, at the meeting held on July 30 in the city of Tbilisi, the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) of Azerbaijan decided to appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking to speed up the procedures for the termination of the Russian citizenship of screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov, the presidential candidate from the NCDF.

The meeting was held in Tbilisi and was chaired by Rustam Ibragimbekov himself. It was decided that the return of Rustam Ibragimbekov to Azerbaijan scheduled for July 31 would not take place. Members of the NCDF have decided that the return of Rustam Ibragimbekov to Azerbaijan (at present, he is not in the country, note of the "Caucasian Knot") would be reasonable after elimination of all obstacles to his official registration as a presidential candidate. Dual citizenship of Rustam Ibragimbekov is one of such obstacles.

In early July, Rustam Ibragimbekov appealed to the Russian authorities asking to terminate his Russian citizenship; however, he has not received any response yet.

On July 25, it was reported that Rustam Ibragimbekov would return to Baku on July 31 at noon flight from Tbilisi. He announced that by himself in his interview to the Azerbaijani Service of the "Radio Liberty".

The Azerbaijani authorities can take advantage of the return of Rustam Ibragimbekov to create obstacles for his official registration as a presidential candidate. This was stated by Eldar Namazov, the head of the NCDF's executive office in his conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.