POLITICS
Foreign Ministry: Some foreign media publish biased articles on Azerbaijan ahead of Baku 2017 Games
Baku, April 24, AZERTAC
"Some foreign media outlets have been publishing biased articles on Azerbaijan on the eve of Baku 2017 4th Islamic Solidarity Games," said spokesperson of Azerbaijan`s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hikmat Hajiyev in an exclusive interview with AZERTAC.
“We have repeatedly witnessed such cases during a number of major events, including the Eurovision song contest, the first European Games held in Azerbaijan. Therefore, the Western media outlets began to spread misinformation, fake news and conduct
anti-Azerbaijan propaganda on the eve of the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games and the Formula-1 race which the country will host.”
“The recent articles published by The Guardian, The Independent and other media are some of examples. The article by the Guardian on alleged human rights violations in Azerbaijan lacks any serious source of reference, and the allegations are put forward only based on rumors. An employee of The Independent newspaper has illegally visited the Armenia-occupied Azerbaijani territories, and by politicizing football he promotes the unrecognized regime. Despite the fact that a letter was sent to the editors to publish the Azerbaijani side's position the same day when the article was posted, the newspaper refused to do it,” Hajiyev said.
“Another Western media has issued a completely unrelated and biased article alleging human rights violations in Azerbaijan and about the TAP project during the Azerbaijani FM's official visit to Italy and at a time when the issue of the restoration of the TAP project was discussed at a local Italian court.”
“It is really very difficult to find any logical connection among these issues. Azerbaijan's most powerful weapon against the negative elements as fake news, misinformation and propaganda is the truth and objectivity,” Hajiyev added.