Azernews.Az

By Jamila Babayeva

Azerbaijan now possesses standards, which surpasses those of OSCE, Ambassador Koray Targay, Head of the OSCE Office in Baku said on December 9 speaking at a roundtable organized at the Azerbaijani parliament on the Human Rights Day.

He said the office closely cooperates with all state agencies in protection and provision of the human rights.

"ASAN Service centers are really a good example. Such kind of agencies exist in many countries, but they are not as perfect as in Azerbaijan," he added.

Azerbaijan has made great achievements, Targay said. "We have to look both back and forward. Azerbaijan has passed great path of development. As for shortcomings, they are observed in every country. There is not any deficiency in Azerbaijan which cannot be resolved."

OSCE Office in Baku carries out monitoring in different spheres in Azerbaijan, Targay said. "In case of any gaps they are solved within the cooperation. There are some issues, which needs definite time to be solved."

Azerbaijani Parliament is holding a roundtable on the occasion of December 10 - International Human Rights Day at the joint organization of parliamentary committees on human rights and legal policy and state building.

The event is attended by members of Parliament, Ombudsman Elmira Suleymanova, Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Farhad Mammadov, as well as representatives of OSCE Office in Baku and the UN.

Addressing the event MP Rabiyyat Aslanova, Chairwoman of the Human Rights Committee of the Parliament (Milli Mejlis), said Azerbaijan has taken important steps in the sphere of human rights protection.

"The National Program of Action in the field of Human Rights, approved by the President of Azerbaijan is a good example of the development of the sphere of human rights in Azerbaijan. International organizations recognize the achievements of Azerbaijan in the sphere of human rights protection," she underscored.

Human rights are one of the most topical issues of concern to humanity in the 21st century, Aslanova noted.

"It is unacceptable that in the 21st century, one state, a member of the UN, pursued an aggressive policy against another state," she noted speaking on armed aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, as a result of which more than one million people became refugees and IDPs.

Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Armenia constantly violates a ceasefire agreement signed with Azerbaijan in 1994 and refuses to implement the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

Ombudsman of Azerbaijan Elmira Suleymanova speaking at a roundtable said Armenians, who are desiring to remark 100th anniversary of the so-called "Armenian genocide", have themselves committed a true genocide.

"A true genocide was committed by Armenians," she underscored. "Horrible genocide is a genocide committed in Khojaly town of Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, the Khojaly genocide was not the last genocide. Bloody events that can be called a genocide occurred in Azerbaijan for several years. The international committee must be informed of that."

Armenia commemorates the alleged "Armenian genocide" on April 24 each year. Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that Turkey's predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, committed genocide in 1915 against Armenians, an allegation dismissed by Ankara.