Delegation of European Parliament consider problems of indigenous peoples of Dagestan in Azerbaijan

The examination mission of the European Parliament and the UN is visiting Dagestan. At the press conference in Makhachkala, participants of the mission have reported that in their trip to the Caucasus, they will also visit Azerbaijan, where they will examine observation of rights of indigenous peoples of Dagestan.

The delegation includes the following officials: three European MPs – Csaba Sogor, Mathias Piendele, Josephine Moeman; Jeroen Zanberg, the acting UN Secretary-General; Andrew Swan, a UN consultant; Ode Merlin, an expert on the Caucasus, and several journalists.

The mission's visit to Dagestan was initiated by the Federal Lezgin National-Cultural Autonomy (FLNCA). This was reported by Arif Kerimov, President of the FLNCA.

The European Parliament has learned about the violation of the rights of national minorities from the media and from the experts. This was reported by MP Mathias Piendele.

Gadjimurad Sagitov, an editor of the Dagestani newspaper "Novoe Delo", has asked the European delegation to specify exactly of what kinds of violation of rights of Dagestani national minorities in Azerbaijan they are aware. Ode Merlin, a member of the European Parliament delegation, Professor of the University of Brussels, has explained that the participants of the mission are still not able to voice specific concerns because of ethical considerations.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 11, the FLNCA issued a statement saying that Azerbaijan detained three relative of the LFNCA's leader Tariel Sarkarov and Djavid Babaev, citizens of Russia, and Eldar Mamedov, a citizen of Azerbaijan.

Those detentions were part of the Baku's attempts to find leverage to put pressure on the leaders of the LFNCA and on Russia as a whole. This was stated by representatives of the FLNCA at the press conference held in Moscow on August 15.