Baku, April 23, AZERTAC

“The US Department of State`s attitude towards the situation in Azerbaijan is biased as always,” said the Azerbaijani President`s Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov as he commented on the US Department of State’s allegations against Azerbaijan in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017.

According to Ali Hasanov, the report shows that the attitude of the Department of State towards the events taking place in the public and political, socio-economic and cultural life of Azerbaijan is prejudiced as always. “The methodology of the preparation of the report is based on the principles of the statement of one and in some cases several facts regarding each issue, their prejudiced interpretation in the interests of certain political forces, the drawing and generalization of the conclusions across the whole field. Such an approach as well as the lack of sources, reference to unknown ‘sources’ such as ‘experts’, ‘activists’, ‘NGO representatives’ casts shadow over objectivity and transparency of the report,” the Presidential Assistant said.

Ali Hasanov noted that all the elections in Azerbaijan, including the 2013 presidential election, were held in a democratic, fair and transparent fashion in line with international standards and Azerbaijani legislation, reflecting the will of the people. “This fact was also reflected in numerous foreign and international observation missions’ statements and reports,” he said.

“Azerbaijan is a democratic country, independent activity of legislative, executive and judicial powers is ensured in the country in accordance with constitutional norms. Therefore, we do not accept biased allegations that discredit the authority of the branches of the government, and the different public bodies on any suspicious "facts", and regard them as subjective judgement without serious grounds.

All democratic norms have been ensured in Azerbaijan, including freedom of speech and information, freedom of assembly, plurality of opinions. Hundreds of media outlets, and a great deal of journalists are freely operating in the country. The number of social network users is nearing 3 million, 80 percent of the country`s population are internet users. There are more than 3,000 NGOs in Azerbaijan, which make significant contributions to the development of all spheres of society through their initiatives and practical steps. Therefore, the report`s allegations of limitations of the activities of civil society institutions cause nothing but regret,” the President’s Assistant said.

“The presidential election held on April 11, 2018, confirmed not only the satisfactory level of election culture in the public and political life of Azerbaijan, but also clearly demonstrated the level of participation of political parties in the political processes.”

“As in Europe and America, marginalized political groups are denied by the society in Azerbaijan and lose their ability to realize their ambitions. This is not a shortage of political system in Azerbaijan, on the contrary, it is an important advantage that ensures security, stability and tolerance in society. Unfortunately, such issues are interpreted in a distorted manner in the Department of State’s report, and undesirable conclusions are drawn.”

“As for the "political prisoners", "pressure", "arrests" and other similar allegations in the report, we think that the number of such facts is bigger in Western countries. If these facts are interpreted with the same methodology by the Department of State, we can imagine the consequences ...” Ali Hasanov concluded.