Azerbaijan has once again extended the special quarantine measures imposed since March 2020. The special regime is now extended until October 1, 2024. This means that Azerbaijan’s land borders will remain closed for another three months.
Although the government had previously justified the extension of the quarantine measures by citing the spread of the coronavirus infection, this argument became less convincing after the World Health Organization declared the end of the pandemic.
In April 2024, during an international forum on “SDG 29 and the Green Vision for Azerbaijan” in Baku, the country’s president Ilham Aliyev announced the decision to keep the land borders closed as a security measure.
Aliyev said that despite the inconvenience caused to Azerbaijanis living on both sides of the borders and others due to the borders being closed, “national security must outweigh all other considerations, all other reasons.”
“Especially at the present time. We have war on our northern border. It is turbulent on our southern border. New conflicts arise like mushrooms after the rain. I think the Azerbaijani people understand this.”
He also mentioned seeing strengthened security in Azerbaijan during the period when borders were closed.
“As someone who deals with national security issues every day, I can say that after closing the borders, we have seen countless benefits for national security. And this is a reality.”
According to him, this decision has no impact on Azerbaijan’s tourism sector.
