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Safar Abiyev received U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan

14 October 2013 10:04 (UTC +04:00)

Baku – APA. Minister of Defense, Colonel General Safar Abiyev received Richard Morningstar, U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Azerbaijan, on October 14.

The Defense Ministry told APA that touching upon the current state of Azerbaijan-US bilateral military cooperation, the Defense Minister and Ambassador exchanged views on the positive results achieved in this field. Noting the importance of deepening military cooperation, Safar Abiyev spoke about impeding factors along with achievements.

Stressing the inhibiting role of Section 907 in this area, the Defense Minister expressed his regret over the fact that this section has not been repealed yet. According to him, today the initiators of Section 907 are targeting Azerbaijan from a different direction.

They also had a conversation about the presidential elections in Azerbaijan.

Noting that the elections were held in the atmosphere of justice, democracy and freedom, Safar Abiyev said the representatives of international organizations and foreign countries issued in general positive opinions in this regard. However, the minister expressed concern over the non-objective and inaccurate statements on the presidential elections issued by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the U.S. Department of State.

He said that the abovementioned mission of OSCE has expressed negative opinions on the recent elections in Azerbaijan. According to the minister, it is impossible not to feel double standards here. As a concrete fact, Safar Abiyev referred to the overall positive assessment made by the U.S. Department of State and OSCE ODIHR on the presidential elections in Armenia in September, 2008, which were fully rigged: “Even the mass protests in Yerevan with the participation of thousands of people, the use of weapons against them by government forces and killing of more than ten voters did not result in a serious international condemnation against Armenian authorities. What are the reasons of double standards? How can we understand the fact that the regime, which has occupied other country’s territories, killed a lot of people and even shows no mercy to its people, is regarded as democratic and is not criticized by the international community?!”

The minister said all this needs to be seriously analyzed and underlined the inadmissibility of double standards in the evaluation of this kind of political processes.

Sharing Abiyev’s views, the U.S. ambassador noted the importance of considering Section 907.

Commenting on the Azerbaijani presidential elections, the Ambassador said that the election is over and Ilham Aliyev is the winner. He also underlined that some criticism has not affected the results of the presidential elections.

They also exchanged views on other issues of cooperation.