Azerbaijanis demanding free contacts with fellow Moslems abroad have spread their protests to the Soviet-Turkish frontier, destroying border fortifications, the government newspaper Izvestia reported.
In ethnic strife elsewhere Monday, presumed Azerbaijani nationalists blew up two main transport bridges at the edge of Nagorno-Karabakh, cutting supplies to the embattled Armenian-dominated enclave, the official Tass news agency said.In Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, Communist Party officials met with Azerbaijani activists in an attempt to solve the ethnic, nationalist and religious problems tearing apart the republic.
Rafik Neshanev, chairman of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet, was present at the discussions during which, Tass said, "Many speeches sharply criticized the Communist Party of the country and the government's Council of Ministers."
Shiite Moslem Azerbaijanis from Nakichevan province, who have destroyed 120 miles of fortifications on the frontier with Iran, streamed toward a bridge over the Araks river at the frontier with Turkey Sunday and gave guards an ultimatum to let them pass, Izvestia said. They said that, if the guards blocked them, they would force their way across in 20 minutes, Izvestia said.
"The situation became explosive, and the soldiers decided to let them pass to avoid the bloodshed," it said. "A minute later, the fortifications along about one-eighth of a mile of the frontier with Turkey were destroyed."