Reports Suggest Armenian Apricots Were Intentionally Crushed at the Behest of Slain Azerbaijani Criminal Leader

The Turkologist Karen Hovhannisyan wrote on his Facebook page: 'On the night of August 19, Azerbaijani criminal leader Nadir Salifov (Lotu Quli) was shot dead in a restaurant at one of the hotels in the Serik district of Antalya, Turkey. He was shot in the head. His bodyguard and driver are suspected of the murder. The bodyguard Amir Hamidli and the driver Khayan Zeyralov were arrested by police on the Antalya-Denizli road.'

It is noteworthy that Nadir Salifov had ordered the murder of another criminal leader, Rovshan Janiev (Lenkoranski), which took place on August 18, 2016. Rovshan was also considered the executor of the murder of another criminal leader, Ded Hasani. Since 2016, Salifov has faced two assassination attempts organized by Rovshan's brothers, both of which were thwarted by law enforcement.

Nadir Salifov controlled the fruit and vegetable markets across the CIS, including Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.'

It is also reported that it was under his orders that Armenian apricots were publicly crushed during the Tavush clashes, and trucks with Armenian license plates were prohibited from entering the fruit and vegetable markets.

Footage of his assassination has surfaced online.