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In a rather strange interview with Day.AZ Azeri information website, Mr. Samir Iman, the head of the Azerbaijani community in the United Arab Emirates, dedicated more than half of his time to talk about the Armenian community (instead of talking about his own community), providing details about the number of Armenians in the country, where they meet and what they do, where they originally come from and at what level is their knowledge of Arabic language, etc.

Following this introduction Mr. Iman expressed his view that "despite the relatively large number of Armenians, they cannot do anything openly or stage any propaganda ... we can say that the Armenian diaspora in the UAE is dead and is hardly felt here".

He claimed that the Armenians "took advantage" of Turkish President Abdullah Gul's visit to Yerevan last year and published an article in a well known daily in Dubai (Gulf News), in which they said Azerbaijan "imposed a blockade on Karabakh and wanted to occupy it". Following his intensive efforts the same newspaper, he claimed, published a new article in which the Azeri positions were emphasized.

Mr. Iman concluded his interview stating that he has been busy during the last two years distributing in the UAE and in other Gulf countries an anti-Armenian book and another book glorifying Azeri ex-leader Hayder Aliev.

Azad-Hye Middle East Armenian Website has tried to locate the above two articles in the newspaper’s online archives, but was not able to find anything of the kind.

First of all the Armenian presence in the UAE goes back to the fifties of the last century. Six of the ten big companies in the early years in Abu Dhabi (in the 1960s) were managed by Armenians. The first licences in the industrial area in the Emirate of Sharjah were issued to Armenian-owned companies. This is aside from numerous Armenians who served as managers of trading companies, banks, chief engineers, chief accountants, financial advisors as well as in other economic disciplines throughout the Emirates.

The status of the Armenians in the UAE has improved even more during the last decades. There is a permanent Armenian Church with community center in Sharjah and another one to be built in Abu Dhabi soon. Hundreds of Armenian children continue to attend weekly lessons in Armenian language and civilization. Many organizations function. According to Azad-Hye the total number of Armenian events during 2008 was about 92, excluding the regular church ceremonies. The Armenian annual ball is one of the most known social events in Dubai.

In 2008, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of organized community life, the Council of the Armenian Community in the Northern Emirates (Dubai, Sharjah, etc) has published a well documented book, in which details were given about the presence of the Armenians in the country and the progress of the community until recent times.

For over twenty years the Abu Dhabi Cultural Association has been arranging different mega cultural activities at least twice a year. These include famous Armenian orchestras from Armenia, quartets and small musical groups from Armenia, Europe and several Arab countries where Armenians live, as well as exhibitions of works of Armenian painters and sculptors.

Since 2000 the Armenian Embassy in Abu Dhabi has been arranging yearly Armenian cultural weeks with the participation of specially invited individuals and groups from Armenia.

Azad-Hye website has covered thousands of topics since its establishment in 2003, with more than 60 thousand monthly visitors. It has contributors in several countries and an online Armenian radio station.

It is obvious that Mr. Iman wants to please his single-sided readers and score well with his government, but his attempts and analytical exercises are so naive that at a certain point they can embarrass or, to be more precise, mislead the Azeris. A quick reading of the above basic facts reveals how shallow the pool of information Mr. Iman commands.