Azernews.Az

BAKU – A senior US official and head of an influential rights group have criticized Azerbaijan’s record on democratic development in Congress, in statements rebuffed by the Azerbaijani government.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Melia told the Congressional subcommittee during a hearing on democracy and freedoms in Eastern Europe countries that the United States was concerned over the situation with fundamental freedoms in Azerbaijan and claimed elections in the country continue to fall short of international standards.

Freedom House chief David Kramer in turn charged that Georgia is the only South Caucasus state making progress on democracy, while Azerbaijan, another regional country, is trailing behind.

Nadia Diuk of the National Endowment for Democracy claimed the situation with democracy in Azerbaijan was even worse than it is in Armenia.

Baku termed the criticism as baseless. Presidential aide Ali Hasanov said the Freedom House head expressed "absolutely subjective" views. He said that Kramer openly says that Eastern Europe countries and some developments ongoing in the region run counter to Western interests, which Hasanov regarded as "very dangerous".

"They nearly cite a country like Armenia, which has a worthless system of governance, as an example to follow for themselves and other countries. This indicates that David Kramer and his organization have purely subjective views and serve certain interests," Hasanov said.