While Azerbaijan is working hard to expand trade, the country’s land borders have been sealed for the past four years, meaning individuals are unable to cross either on foot or by vehicle. Government officials initially justified their action by citing the dangers associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. But now pro-government media is citing the threat of terrorism as an excuse to keep the frontier closed.
While all other Covid-related restrictions have long ago been lifted, the closure of land borders to individuals is set to continue for at least a few more months. Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov signed an order in mid-March prolonging the “special quarantine regime” in the country until July 1.
Azerbaijan closed its land borders with Russia, Georgia, Turkey, and Iran to individual traffic back in March 2020 as the Covid pandemic began. Cargo traffic was allowed to continue unimpeded. Azerbaijan’s other land border with Armenia has been closed for more than 30 years because of the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
For a brief period after the pandemic began, the 13-kilometer frontier separating Turkey and Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan exclave was opened, though it was closed again in July 2022. It subsequently reopened, but only to Azerbaijani citizens (from anywhere in the country) entering Nakhchivan from Turkey, and for Nakhchivan residents crossing the border in either direction. At the same time individual restrictions have been in place, Baku has taken high-profile steps to expand both east-west and north-south overland freight traffic.
Keeping the border closed has been increasingly awkward for officials to justify since last May, when the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 “no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.”
In recent days, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Moscow that left more than 140 people dead, pro-government MPs and media outlets in Baku have started citing a different reason for keeping border-crossing restriction in place – national security.
On March 26, prominent news agency Report.az ran a lengthy piece headlined “Moscow terror and Azerbaijan’s security fence – the real reason behind border closure is getting clearer.” An MP interviewed in the article speculated that after Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 Karabakh war “some countries, international organizations who sponsored Armenia, as well as Armenian terrorist entities cannot digest the defeat” and may want to take revenge.
The day before the Report.az piece appeared, Azerbaijan’s State Security Service reported the arrest of a citizen, identified as Bahruz Askarov, on charges of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act. A statement said Askarov planned with other persons to carry out “actions which would result in the death of people and the occurrence of other socially dangerous consequences.” The Security Service went on to accuse Askarov of plotting to assassinate the mayor Lankaran, a Caspian coastal city not far from the Iranian border.
The terror-threat narrative being spun by pro-government media about the frontier so far hasn’t addressed how a closed land borders can prevent terrorists from entering the country when it remains easy to travel to Azerbaijan by air. The justification met with plenty of jeers on social media. “The closure of Azerbaijan’s land borders is important for our safety. As you know, terrorists never come on a plane; they only pass the land customs,” influencer Javid Aga wrote mockingly on Facebook, posting an image from the 9/11 tragedy.
A widespread belief about the reason for the prolonged restrictions is that the existing rules give a boost to Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) and the local tourism industry, both of which are dominated by people with ties to the ruling elite. For example, AZAL’s new president, Samir Rzayev, was appointed by President Ilham Aliyev in February. Rzayev previously was a top executive with the Bravo hypermarket chain, one of the largest companies held by the Pasha Holding group, an entity that brings together the ruling family’s business interests.
According to the State Statistics Committee, the country’s hotel industry registered a profit of nearly 489 million manats (roughly $288 million) in 2023. Public intellectual Altay Goyushov linked the hotels’ high profits to the closed borders in a post on his Facebook page. “Our people paid the benefits to national oligarchs instead of some foreigners. Thus, prolonging quarantine and closure of land borders is for our national interests,” he wrote sarcastically.
