AZERI PRESSURE GROUP DESCRIBES RIGHTS CAMPAIGNERS’ VISIT TO ARMENIA AS "BETRAYAL"

Turan News Agency, Azerbaijan
Sept 12 2006

Baku, 11 September: The Civic Solidarity youth organization has
demanded that 10 "enemies of the people" be stripped of Azerbaijani
citizenship for their recent visit to Armenia within the Camp of
Mutual Understanding project. Those enemies are the head of the
Azerbaijani National Committee of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly,
Arzu Abdullayeva, rights activists Nigar Abdullayeva, Rana Yuzbasova
and Fidan Mammadova and journalists Seymur Baycan, Ismayil Abdulazimov
and Xamis Masimov.

The cause of such a strong reaction is a visit by these individuals
to the Gughark camp in Armenia.

The youth organization said in a statement that the camp hosted a
meeting of representatives of Armenian and Azerbaijan youth at the
initiative of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly and that representatives
of Nagornyy Karabakh also attended the meeting. The authors of the
statement believe that a visit to Armenia is "a betrayal" and demand
that government agencies strip these people of Azerbaijani citizenship,
confiscate their passports and expel from the country international
organizations that prepare such projects.

In turn, the Azerbaijani National Committee of the Helsinki Citizens’
Assembly issued a statement denying these accusations. International
law rejects xenophobia – eternal enmity between nations. The
accusations voiced against the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly are aimed
at casting a shadow on the organization’s activity, the statement said.