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Minister Azad Rahimov: I would like to express my position regarding this situation on â€œEurovision-Azerbaijanâ€

21 August 2009 17:07 (UTC +04:00)

It is necessary to emphasize, that Azerbaijan has showed a great success in this competition, by outperforming its neighbours, and by landing in one of the leading positions. A number of groundless attacks have appeared to the address of the country and, in particular, to the law enforcement bodies of Azerbaijan in some Mass Media sources. As a state entity authorized by the government for rendering of support to the project â€œEurovision-Azerbaijanâ€, and as Azerbaijani Minister of Youth and Sport, I would like to express my position regarding this situation, which we have been trying to figure out,â€ Youth and Sport Minister Azad Rahimov told APA exclusively.
â€œIt has been revealed during the investigation that, no specific list with the names of people voting for Armenia from Azerbaijan and the quantity of voices submitted for Armenia has ever existed in the hands of Azerbaijani authorities. Taking this into account, it is doubtful that somebody like R.Nasirov, called in for questioning by the law enforcement agencies, could see such voting list. Moreover, this raises another question: Why no one else, but R.Nasirov has been called in for questioning to the Ministry of National Security? Any insinuations around the so-called "the list of 43" are nothing else, but a fruit of imagination of some unscrupulous journalists,â€ he said.

Azad Rahimov said some media sources try to politicize the issue.
â€œWe are afflicted with the fact that, some news agencies, in particular, such as Azerbaijan branch of "Radio Liberty", actively conducts a unilateral policy in the given question, by trying to politicize the issue and to present it in a politically biased manner.
This position by "Radio Liberty", which recently repeatedly allowed "double standards" in regards to Azerbaijan, in particular a propos the territorial integrity of the country, causes bewilderment in us. I appeal to mass media not to politicize this question, to study more deeply the situation, to express the positions of all the parties, and to conduct a fair assessment of the given problem,â€ Azad Rahimov said.