ESISC CEO: Biased reports of some int'l organisations on Azerbaijan beyond reality
Biased reports of international organizations like OSCE/ODIHR and Human Rights Watch on Azerbaijan do not reflect reality, Director-General of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Centre (ESISC), Claude Moniquet said in an interview with Trend.
For instance, he said when you read the report of OSCE /ODIHR, or Human Rights Watch and others, you think that Azerbaijan is a totalitarian and dictatorship country.
"When you come to Azerbaijan you see there is a free society," Moniquet emphasised. "You see a society where you don't see so much police and not so many police officers on each street corner. You don't feel you live in a police state like I saw in other parts of the former Soviet Union. You feel extremely free to move around and you meet normal people, working hard and earning a living."
He said so much political trouble and so much political fighting is not needed, but there is a need for stability.
"I think to assess the pre-election situation in Azerbaijan we must assess the whole situation in Azerbaijan for the last few years because the election is one moment in the life of a country," he added. "Between two elections we have years. What we see today in Azerbaijan is a country which has a growing economy which is progressive, which of course has social problems like all transitional countries, but with the importance of political stability."
According to Moniquet, Azerbaijan is living in very difficult area of the world, in the Caucasus which is not the most peaceful part of the planet with two very powerful neighbours Russia and Iran who are not really the best friends you can have and with 20 per cent of the territory occupied by a foreign country, namely Armenia. "So, in this situation if we want to see a peaceful, economical and socially increasing Azerbaijan, the country needs stability. That is the main point for us in for the coming election," he emphasized.
He said yesterday he met with one of the candidates for presidency.
"This man told me that he has some remarks and concerns about the way the government acts in Azerbaijan, but to depict the situation in Azerbaijan as completely black and negative as the OSCE did is wrong. It is not serving the interests of Azerbaijan. It is not serving the interest of OSCE, of course, because it gives out a very bad image of the organization. But it is basically wrong and it is untrue," he said.
C.Moniquet noted that one can clearly see Azerbaijan is a democratic country where you can meet a man running for the presidency and telling you these things.
"Of course democracy could be deepened and of course, progress could be made and I hope will be. And a lot progress has been done in the last few years".