Doctor is Sole Jewish Casualty in Unrest Sweeping Azerbaijan

A physician who was treating an injured person is the sole known Jewish victim of the turbulence that has rocked the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.

Alexander Markevka was riding in an ambulance that was hit by gunfire, according to Daniel Mariaschin, director of international and public affairs for B’nai B’rith International.

Mariaschin and Jacques Lurie, chairman of the B’nai B’rith department on Soviet Jewry, learned the identity of the Jewish victim in a conference call placed early Sunday morning to Leonid Mishne, a Jewish activist in Baku.

Mishne said Jews arc not being singled out in the internecine fighting between Azerbaijanis and Armenians and arc not in any special danger.

But he said most of the Jews want to immigrate to Israel immediately. “Jews want to go out as soon as possible to Israel,” he said.