Baku, June 5, AZERTAC

Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on the article of Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muziniex, the UN Special Rapporteur Michel Forst and the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic published on the Internet portal of "OpenDemocracy" on June 3.

The head of the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev said that these persons abusing the status of institutions they represent, are acting as an element of the smear campaign on bespoken basis, against Azerbaijan on the eve of the First European Games by some circles: "With these actions, those persons prove once again that they serve not to the goals and objectives of their organizations but to the interests of limited political circles."

The Foreign Ministry official said that the first European Games contributes to today's actual dialogue of cultures and religions, friendship, partnership and peace: "Though the importance of the first European Games was emphasized in the A/RES/69/6 resolution on "Sport as a means promoting education, health, development and peace" adopted in the 69th session of the UN General Assembly on October 31, 2014. Their insidious attempts against European Games are against the will of international community.

Unfortunately, those persons do not show courage to say even one word about more than one million of Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced people deprived of their fundamental rights as a result of the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan which was noted on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, though they discuss the protection of human rights."