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Some foreign diplomats run sponsored campaign to discredit Azerbaijan

4 June 2015 14:38 (UTC+04:00)
Some foreign diplomats run sponsored campaign to discredit Azerbaijan

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry has accused some officials of international organizations of abusing their status to discredit Azerbaijan.

Hikmet Hajiyev, Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesperson said on June 4 that officials of some international organizations abuse their status and act as the elements of a sponsored campaign to discredit Azerbaijan on the eve of the First European Games.

He made the remark commenting on an article published on the Open Democracy portal authored by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Fors and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic.

The authors of the article subjected Azerbaijan to criticism in connection with the country's human rights situation.

Hajiyev said with such actions these people prove that they serve not the goals and objectives of their organizations, but the interests of certain political circles.

He noted that the first European Games in Baku will serve to the development of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, friendship, partnership and peace, which is topical in the European continent nowadays.

The inaugural Baku 2015 European Games is an historic event for the continent. It will gather some 6,000 athletes from 50 countries to compete in 16 Olympic and four non-Olympic sports.

In light of a resolution of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly highlighting the importance of the European Games, these people are attempting to carry out activities contrary to the will of the international community, Hajiyev said.

He added that unfortunately, when it comes to human rights, these people do not find the courage to talk about infringed rights of over a million Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons as a result of Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. As a result of a war in the early 1990s, over 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed, 4,866 were reported missing and almost 100,000 were injured. Furthermore 50,000 people were disabled.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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