Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry: We demand from the UK government a thorough investigation of the attack on our embassy in London
The day before, British Deputy Foreign Minister Graham Stewart, during a meeting with Azerbaijani Ambassador Elin Suleymanov, expressed regret over the attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in London. The British diplomat said that London is committed to ensuring the security of all diplomatic missions in the UK. At the same time, he made a reservation that the British follow the tradition of supporting the right to freedom of expression and freedom of speech, if it is implemented in a peaceful and legal way. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry partially supported the response of the British Foreign Office and called for a thorough investigation into the incident.
Leyla Abdullayeva, head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, called the attack on the embassy a provocation of radicals and stressed that this incident calls into question the security of the diplomatic mission in the future. The diplomat expressed satisfaction that London understands that ensuring the security of missions of foreign states is the duty of their host country "in accordance with international obligations."
At the same time, Abdullayeva drew attention to the ambiguity of the wording of the representative of the British Foreign Office regarding the issue of "expressing freedom of thought." In her opinion, reflecting the official position of Baku, freedom of expression and peaceful protests "have nothing to do with the attack on our embassy in London." The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry recalled that Britain stood at the origins of the formation of Western democratic principles and institutions. And here, as nowhere else in the world, "they are well aware of the ways/rules of applying this principle in a free society."
Abdullayeva stressed, calling for a thorough investigation of the provocation against the embassy and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
The attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in central London took place on 4 August. Then a group of radicals, chanting extremist slogans, broke into the territory of the diplomatic mission and raised religious flags on the balcony of the building. As it later became known, the Shiite extremist organization Mahdi Servants Union, organized by Kuwaiti clerics living in London, took responsibility for the provocation.
As a result of the incident, none of the diplomats and the embassy building were damaged. The radicals were escorted out of the embassy by the London police, and eight extremists were reportedly detained.
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