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EDITORIAL

Those who speak a language of threat to Azerbaijan know that it is time to put an end to these bad habits. Since Azerbaijan has succeeded in guaranteeing its territorial integrity and sovereignty, this method is no longer useful.

However, it seems that President Ilham Aliyev's message to the world about this has not yet reached some people engaged in political affairs. Although the head of the European Stability Initiative (ESI), Gerald Knaus, claims that he is closely interested in human rights issues and has experience in this field, his views on Azerbaijan do not correspond with his background information. Knaus called on the PACE rapporteurs to take steps related to the release of the political prisoners allegedly 'imprisoned' in Azerbaijan. However, the European activist approached the issue one-sidedly.

First of all, those who are interested in freedom of speech and human rights in Azerbaijan can familiarise themselves with the situation in the country. Along with state-owned media organisations, opposition media subjects also operate freely in Azerbaijan. As for politicians and journalists, they are not subjected to pressure, but conditions are created for them.

In our days, the topic of freedom of speech and political persecution has become the most convenient tool for a smear campaign against the countries they want to slander in the countries of the European Union. After its victory in the Second Garabagh War, Azerbaijan was subjected to a storm of slander and persecution. Undoubtedly, this campaign, carried out with the organisational support of the Armenian lobby, is fully compatible with the financial interests of representatives of some so-called human rights organisations in Europe. For this reason, Mr. Gerald Knaus forgot the statistical data until 2020 when talking about human rights in Azerbaijan.

If he has forgotten, then we will remind him:

First of all, since the 1990s, the fact that more than one million Azerbaijanis were forcibly expelled from their lands and became refugees is considered a tragedy in the world. However, the Council of Europe is indifferent to human rights and even tries to ignore the issue.

The delegation of Azerbaijan represented in PACE tried to say these things in the last winter session. However, some politicians who found comfort in the financial support of the Armenian lobby tried to prevent this.

How is it that PACE and the Committee of Ministers want Azerbaijan to remain a member state of the organisation but do not want to hear the right voice of Azerbaijan for this? Do the 'political prisoners' they talk about really bother them so much?

Let's make this clear:

Until the Patriotic War, Azerbaijan agreed to all the demands and proposals of the Council of Europe. This led to the solution of the Garabagh problem in favour of Armenia. Both the Human Rights Commission of the Council of Europe, PACE, and the Minsk Group of the OSCE were trying to freeze the conflict by drawing a veil over the realities. The fate of more than one million refugees and innocent citizens killed in Garabagh was completely out of their interest. But when the geopolitical processes changed, all recognised and unrecognised organisations in Europe stood up and directed their black propaganda against Azerbaijan under the guise of the independent media—but working for Western forces in fact. Those so-called media subjects, financed by various secret sources, suddenly became active and began to increase their pressure on the state. Even with information consisting of blackmail and lies, those media outlets started to grist to the enemy's mill by publishing anti-Azerbaijan information.

Azerbaijan is well aware of who and which organisations receive financial support for such media subjects that only deal in money. If they wanted the prosperity of the country, why do they intervene in Azerbaijan's internal issues and broadcast anti-Azerbaijani information instead of exposing the atrocities committed by the Armenians in Garabagh, mine problems, as well as anti-Azerbaijani forces?

Azerbaijan does not have any obligations towards politicians and organisations that act on such double standards. If we are talking about the law, then all parties must comply with the legal norms and at least not interfere in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan.

As for Gerald Knaus's posts about Azerbaijan, looking at his social media page, it is immediately clear that Azerbaijan is specifically targeted. Because spotlighting Azerbaijan amid so many problems in the world means nothing but a purposeful step.

In my opinion, Knaus completely forgot about the political repression and persecution in Armenia, including the unfinished criminal facts. It should be recalled that the Helsinki Committee's annual statement on human rights contains hundreds of documents related to the facts of political persecution and death in Armenia. Political prisoners arrested in Armenia are tortured and even brutally killed.

In addition, the Human Rights Commission of the Council of Europe can make a statement about the Azerbaijani journalist who was subjected to pressure in France. Also, the people who were beaten by the police in anti-government protests in Paris and other cities have at least the same rights as everyone else. It is the duty of activists like Gerald Knaus to see it and take a look at this, at least...

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