Germany’s envoy refused to apologize over Artsakh flag post

PanARMENIAN.Net - President Ilham Aliyev has commented in detail on the incident involving a post with the flag of Artsakh on the official page of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

According to Aliyev, several factors raised doubts about the post being accidental. One of them was the statement made by the German ambassador, summoned to Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry, who said Germany would not apologize.

“Of course, we were all very surprised to see that. It was hard for us to believe it was a mistake because Germany is a country with a longstanding tradition of statehood. All symbols are strictly regulated. It wasn’t just the separatists’ flag. There was also a caption with the words ‘Nagorno-Karabakh.’ Nagorno-Karabakh does not exist. The use of that wording was seen by us as an insult to Azerbaijan,” he said, as quoted by Minval.az .

Aliyev also found the image of a torn flag suspicious.

“If they thought it was the Armenian flag, why post a torn version? Apparently, in the minds of those who posted it, a torn flag symbolized a ‘wounded Artsakh.’ It was a message to Azerbaijan,” he added.

Aliyev said Baku took the incident seriously and began considering various courses of action, including postponing a visit if no apology was offered.

“I’m now revealing what we call our ‘backstage,’” he noted.

According to him, the German ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry at Azerbaijan’s initiative to clarify the situation and stated that Germany would not issue an apology.

“So that was another surprise. Then my assistant Hikmet Hajiyev contacted the head of Steinmeier’s office. What was the response?” the president asked.

Hikmet Hajiyev reported that initially, a representative of the German president’s office called it a technical error and apologized privately, promising to delete the post. However, at Aliyev’s insistence, Baku demanded an official, public apology, which was eventually delivered in writing.

“That’s how it was resolved. But clearly, they shouldn’t have done it. It was a completely unnecessary and pointless attempt to insult us. I am fully convinced that President Steinmeier knew nothing about it, and that’s what he told me, and I completely believe him. Firstly, because I respect him a lot. Secondly, to be honest, I don’t pay much attention to photos posted on my site either. If something is wrong there, you know who to blame,” Aliyev said.

The image posted on Steinmeier’s page was accompanied by the following text: “The conflict concerns the Nagorno-Karabakh region. According to international law, the region belongs to Azerbaijan, but it has been predominantly inhabited by Armenians. Armed conflicts have occurred repeatedly in recent decades.”

Later, it was reported that Germany had apologized to Azerbaijani authorities for the post on the official social media page of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier featuring the Artsakh flag. The post was labeled a “technical error” and removed.