OSCE official denies critical Azeri media reports

Turan news agency
26 Aug 06

Baku, 26 August: "I work under an OSCE mandate and agreement reached
between the sides [Azerbaijan and Armenia]. I am not going to resign.

I may only resign if the sides officially say they do not want me
in this post. None of the sides has made a statement to this effect
so far," Andrzej Kasprzyk, the personal representative of the OSCE
chairman-in-office, has said in a telephone interview with Turan. He
was commenting on recent Azerbaijani media reports critical of him.

Kasprzyk said he does not understand the causes of the scandal
surrounding him in the Azerbaijani media. He said he does not know
who is behind the scandal either.

Kasprzyk dismissed the critical media reports that he is engaged in
carpet trade.

"I cannot file a libel suit as I am a diplomat," the envoy said. He
expressed regret that the Azerbaijani media quote unreliable sources.

Kasprzyk said he is now in Europe and plans to come to Baku in early
September.

Kasprzyk’s report on monitoring of fires along the Armenian-Azerbaijani
front line angered official Baku. First, representatives of the
Foreign Ministry and the Presidential Executive Staff, and then the
state-controlled media accused Kasprzyk of failing to see "the obvious
truth", taking a pro-Armenian stance, etc.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress