Azernews.Az

BAKU – The recent WikiLeaks reports concerning Azerbaijan are "a lie and slander", an Azerbaijani presidential aide said Monday.

Presidential Administration department head Ali Hasanov said that referring to US diplomats, WikiLeaks is spreading "groundless information aimed at fueling tension" in relations between regional countries.

"In particular, there have been reports directed at deteriorating relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey, providing false information about the leaders of Azerbaijan and Turkey, and tarnishing Azerbaijani-Russian and Azerbaijani-Iranian relations," Hasanov said in an interview with the Baku-based Trend news agency. "We have repeatedly refuted such information. It is a lie, concocted and deliberately spread information. And today we remain committed to this view."

Hasanov said information posted by WikiLeaks has slid to the level of yellow press.

"We have repeatedly proved the falsity of these statements by facts," he stressed. "For example, the reports spread recently claim that after a GUAM event, the president of Azerbaijan showed his guests a residence that could amaze them. However, this event took place at the state residence’s guest house in Zagulba, which has neither a sauna nor other luxuries that could impress the visitors. This fact itself testifies that all these are lies. This is false information, or someone else's fiction."

Hasanov noted that WikiLeaks had also published remarks relating to Iran which were allegedly said by President Ilham Aliyev, saying Baku "definitely refutes all of them and deems them fictional".

"This is a policy pursued to affect Azerbaijan's relations with other countries and aiming to shape and regulate the relations for one’s own ends.

"Certain phrases were used with reference to various US officials, and we refute them too," Hasanov added.