Armenophobia export: Azerbaijani kickboxer opens club in London where “entry of Armenians is prohibited”

Hafiz Bakhshaliyev, a former member of Azerbaijan national kickboxing team, rented a place in the center of London in 2016and opened a kickboxing and boxing sport club called Kavkaz, and now 10 people, mainly from Azerbaijan, train there, Publika.az reports.

When asked about the name Kavkaz “and if Armenians come to train there, will you accept them?” Hafiz Bakhshaliyevtold the website, “The entry of Armenians is prohibited. We will not stand by the enemy.”

Publika.az notes that Hafiz Bakhshaliyev, the former member of Azerbaijan national kickboxing team, moved to take up a permanent residence in in Cardiff, the UK, in 2009and worked in a club called Eagles. He took part in a series of games there, becoming the UK champion among the professionals, according to K-1.

Currently, he is engaged in activities not connected with sport.

According to Azerbaijani opposition newspaper Musavat, Armenophobia became a nation-wide activity in Azerbaijan and has reached such an extent that for a easy stay in this country one needs only to accuse someone that he is either "Armenian" or has "pro-Armenian views. At the same time, no one needs any proof, you just have to blame a person to become the favorite of the power. "Cases of no-Armenophobia are only a result of obligations towards the West. If a person will show hatred towards Armenians, the West would not cooperate with him," the newspaper concludes.

According to the Azerbaijani reports, the materials and stories of the local media have recently seen a rise of use of insults, obscene language and unpleasant expressions when covering Armenia and the Armenians. In 2014, the head of the Department of expertise, programming and analytics of the National Television and Radio Council of Azerbaijan, TavakkulDadashev, called on Azerbaijani media to go on using insults in the articles covering Armenian topics as much as possible.