Addressing the round table, Chairman of the International Relations Research Center Rufiz Gonagov said the PR campaign against Azerbaijan is intensifying as the European Games is approaching.
“It’s no coincidence that an investigative article titled “Anti-Azerbaijani campaign led by John Kerry's office in Congress” and published by APA Information Agency points out a number of important facts. It became clear that a “black PR” campaign, with the U.S. in the lead, has been launched against our country. It was predictable and it stems from the West’s double standards. We believe that these dirty intentions against our country will fail. I hope we all will unite and prevent this ugly campaign,” Rufiz Gonagov noted.
MP Zahid Oruj said the anti-Azerbaijan project developed under John Kerry’s leadership is no different than other campaign documents by nature.
“To my mind, this is an immense plan within the anti-Azerbaijan campaign. Some details of the plan have been reveled by APA Information Agency, and I hope other documents will also be published. The U.S. has already turned out to be a peril to Azerbaijan. And I think it has nothing to do with the policy pursued by the Azerbaijani government at all. Changing the priorities is the U.S. and its government. The current U.S. policy is harming democratic values and its ties with Azerbaijan. There is no doubt that the policy which the U.S. pursues under the guise of democracy is dreading world nations. I think the policy of punishing Azerbaijan will harm the interests of the West and the U.S. far more. Such a policy means the blocking of US access to the South Caucasus. In this respect, I suggest opinions expressed here be translated into English and sent to the U.S. government, to John Kerry,” said Zahid Oruj.
Aydin Guliyev, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Bakı XÉ™bÉ™r” and the coordinator of the Coalition, noted that there are human rights problems in western countries as well.
“There are facts reported of U.S. violence against locals in Afghanistan. Mounting pressure on U.S. journalists trying to cover these facts is indicative of pressure on free media in this country. The closure of social networks during the 2011 riots in the UK also reflects restriction on freedom. The fact I mentioned above show clear violation of freedoms of speech and freedom and human rights in the U.S. and the UK,” said Aydin Quliyev.
Maharram Zulfugarli, the chairman of the Public Union “Association for Study of Social Problems”, has delivered a lecture on the subject “Growing racial and religious discrimination in the U.S. and Europe and the failure of multiculturalism”, saying there have been cases of racial and religious discrimination in the U.S. historically.
“In the U.S., there are over two million people who have fallen victim to religious discrimination. The U.S. has not joined 9 of the 13 conventions on human rights. According to international organizations, in the U.S. there are serious problems such as impunity of criminals, existence of capital punishment, violation of the rights o migrants, police violence, etc. As for the EU, there is no structure that controls human rights situation in the EU member states. These facts prove that in Europe and the U.S. the human rights situation is unsatisfactory.
In his speech, president of the Constitution Research Foundation Alimammad Nuriyev drew attention to the growing number of cases of corruption in the U.S. and Europe.
“There are corruption allegations against Azerbaijan. Although there are facts of corruption, we effectively fight against it. It is enough only to highlight the activities of ASAN service. But let's see how is the situation in the U.S. and the EU countries which blame Azerbaijan for corruption. During the survey conducted in these countries, the citizens said that corruption is widespread in their countries. There cases of corruption in the U.S. as well. 80 percent of Americans said that corruption reigns in their country. The British media reported about the scandal of buying seats in the UK House of Lords in 2006. The international organizations involved in money laundering issue statements on the human rights in Azerbaijan as in the U.S. and the EU countries. The U.S. government bears 80 percent of the costs of “Freedom House” organization. The rankings are based on serious political factors in this regard”, he stressed.
Later on, the participants started discussions on the reports.
President of APA Holding Vusala Mahirgizi presented documents on the abovementioned investigative article, mentioning that the anti-Azerbaijan campaign in connection with the first European Games is intensifying.
“We have only those documents regarding the anti-Azerbaijani campaign. But I do not think it's all the facts. Of course, there are also supporting projects developed by some NGOs,” she noted.
Mahirgizi underlined that one of the main goals of this project is to prevent Azerbaijan’s approaching the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem.
“If we pay attention, we can see that the attacks further intensified following resolute speeches of the Azerbaijani President, what was happening on the frontline since August and Azerbaijan’s fully taking psychological and military advantage. Azerbaijan’s economic and military power, as well as the moral degradation of Armenian society against the background of what happened on the frontline and in Gyumri stipulates the solution to this problem within the framework of international legal norms in favor of Azerbaijan. What should they at this moment? They think only about destabilizing the situation in Azerbaijan, conducting a “black PR” campaign on human rights and delaying the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as possible,” Mahirgizi added.
The president of APA Holding said that the issue of human rights is not an internal affair of any state.
“It is neither an internal affair of European countries, America, nor Azerbaijan. However, I want to note an interesting fact that during Winter Olympic Games held in Italy in 2006, Summer Olympic Games held in London in 2012 many of those organizations engaged in human rights didn’t conduct monitoring in these countries. I wonder why?”
Praising the activity of the Coalition, MP Asim Mollazade said that the Azerbaijani people attach great importance to the upcoming European Games, which will promote the culture of the Azerbaijani people and the development of our country,
Political analyst Elman Nasirov said representatives of the U.S. government are demonstrating biased attitude toward Azerbaijan, noting that pressures against Azerbaijan are related with the country's independent policy.
MP Chingiz Ganizade stated that the U.S. is supporting a separate entity.
“The forthcoming European Games will contribute to further increase of the country's political weight. Forces concerned over it are taking such steps against Azerbaijan. All this indicates the insincere attitude of the U.S. and West toward Azerbaijan,” he stressed.
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