Germany prevents presentation of country report by Azerbaijani rights activist
Throughout the world, a large number of human rights defenders are conducting research, and so far their investigations haven't been hindered or opposed in any way, Chairman of "For Human Rights" Public Union, human rights activist Fatullayev has said at a press conference, Trend news agency reported.
"We were also conducting international research and firstly have monitored the situation in Germany," he said.
Explaining his choice of Germany, Fatullayev noted that Germany is the most democratic and developed country in Europe.
"We started our monitoring in Germany to see what results would be. While in Germany, we were shown pictures of the dispersal of rallies; I was horrified. We were very disappointed by such an aggressive attitude towards demonstrators there. However, Amnesty International opposed our study. I encountered a strange attitude from Germany upon returning to Baku. It turns out that when you praise the Germans, you are good, and when you make criticism, you are bad. I was required to disclose our project's sources of funding, so I told them that one of the supporters of our projects was the Black Sea Trust. The German Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the organization condemning it for funding of the project and claiming that they influence organizations. Imagine what would have happened if I called the true source of financing. It appears that it is acceptable to criticize Azerbaijan, but not Germany. I receive reports from donors that they have been advised by the German Foreign Ministry to not cooperate with me. Germany caused many difficulties for us surrounding the presentation of our report in Brussels, although the EU and other international organizations in Azerbaijan don't face any obstacles of this type," Fatullayev said.
Representative of the German embassy in Azerbaijan Frederick Hanke was also present at the event and in turn, stated that Germany didn't cause any problems for Fatullayev's project.
Fatullayev said that his words are based on evidence, whereas Hanke is not telling the truth.
"Of course, Germany is a developed country; however, Azerbaijan is reaching that point as well. Germany has a two-hundred year history of independence.
"The Black Sea Trust informed me that the German Foreign Ministry addressed them in a letter questioning their motives behind supporting me and asked for explanations," Fatullayev said.