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Ali Hasanov: Azerbaijan is a country committed to fundamental democratic values, where civil society is developed and all the freedoms are protected

24 September 2014 16:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku – APA. APA presents Head of Political and Public Affairs Department at the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Ali Hasanov's interview to AzerTAc.

- Mr. Hasanov, various international organizations, government officials and a number of foreign organizations made some critical statements on the state of human rights, freedom of expression and information in Azerbaijan last week. We would like to know your opinion in this regard.

- Azerbaijan is a country committed to fundamental democratic values, where civil society is developed and all the freedoms are protected. Today, hundreds of non-governmental organizations and media outlets are freely operating within the law, facing no restriction in Azerbaijan. People are freely expressing their opinions, the state is providing comprehensive support for the development of civil society institutions and media.

Therefore, such statements and documents made on the basis of information ordered by three-five persons without taking into account general opinion of the Azerbaijani society, NGOs and hundreds of media outlets about the state of human rights and freedoms are biased, groundless and subjective in nature.

I would like to note that some local NGOs funded by foreign foundations have carried out non-transparent activities, not reporting to relevant government agencies and ignoring the requirements of the law for years. Currently, relevant amendments made to the laws regulating the activities of NGOs in accordance with the Western democratic standards and measures taken in order to meet the requirements of legislation aim at ensuring transparent operation and accountability of civil society organizations and eliminating any violations in this field. We think the lack of transparency is one of the reasons leading to corruption and other offenses. Of course, the activities of the organizations suspected of violating the laws are being investigated and appropriate measures are taken as the facts are approved. And the organizations which direct the million of grant funds received from abroad to suspected targets and ignore the legitimate demands of various organizations and especially their foreign defenders acting as “heralds of democracy” are not satisfied with this. “The fifth colon” is deprived of its opportunities to fulfill its mission and it ultimately weakens the pressure weapons against Azerbaijan. At present, the activities of some external forces and subordinate organizations which excess the media are associated with this factor.

Unfortunately, some external forces are widely using the practice of forming a negative opinion about the independent countries by summarizing some distorted cases regarding the human rights. This is not the right approach. The spokesperson of the U.S. State Department described the harsh intervention in the right protests of the citizens in Ferguson city of Missouri State in early August, declaration of emergency situation, use of arm, causalities and gross restriction of the rights of the media and civil society activists as an internal affair of the country. In addition, some experts described the government’s tough measures as an attempt to ensure the public stability and safety of the community. However, it is hard to believe that the crackdown of the peaceful protest outside the UN Headquarters in New York is related to social security. Also, there are a lot of facts about the persecution of journalists, supervision over information resources, arrest of bloggers and other human rights violations in the US and developing countries in Europe. Of course, if we generalize all such cases, one can claim that there’s nothing of democracy even in the world’s most developed countries. A question arises: Why do some authorities criticizing Azerbaijan not comment on the status of democracy in those countries by generalizing these facts. Unfortunately, these double standards can be seen in some western authorities’ attitude toward the regional countries as well.

Considering it all, I think the resolution that the European Parliament adopted a few days ago, the statement addressed to Azerbaijan by President Barack Obama, who was misinformed by the US representatives at the OSCE and the European Parliament, at the annual assembly of the Clinton Global Initiative, opinions expressed during the annual assembly of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw as well as the claims of the Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and other foreign organizations of this kind are biased and should be regarded as an attempt to exert pressure on the independent policy of our state.

We’d like to inform those authorities that the main task for any government as well as the Azerbaijani government is to ensure its people’s national interests, sustainable development and security of society, socio-political stability and tranquility in the country. Azerbaijan is an independent country and pursues its domestic and foreign policy in line with its people’s national interests. And Azerbaijan by no means intends to give up its way and act in accordance with the desire of anyone.