AZERI OFFICIAL DOWNBEAT ON US STATE DEPARTMENT RIGHTS REPORT
Ekho
March 13 2008
Azerbaijan
A senior Azerbaijani spokesman has voiced his disagreement with various
aspects of the latest US State Department report on the human rights
situation in Azerbaijan in 2007.
"As a whole, the most recent State Department report on human rights
in Azerbaijan mentions issues where the situation is not quite the
same as the authors of the document are making out," the Azerbaijani
Foreign Ministry spokesman, Xazar Ibrahim, told the Ekho newspaper
in remarks the paper published on 13 March.
Ibrahim said that the USA and Azerbaijan are strategic partners and
friendly countries. However, he added that the "other side does
not have full information on some points and the objective view
is lacking".
The spokesman said that certain issues reflected in the report had
been discussed by the US and Azerbaijani governments at various levels.
"We are drawing relevant conclusions and taking necessary steps,"
Ibrahim said.
Commenting on the wording which the State Department used in its
most recent report to describe the situation around the Nagornyy
Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman
said: "We expect that the USA, which speaks of the occupation of
Azerbaijani territories, will play a more effective role in ending
this occupation."
In an interview with the paper, political analyst Rasim Musabayov
gave a positive assessment of the department’s wording regarding
Nagornyy Karabakh.
"It would be OK if the State Department pointed out that it is
specifically Armenia, under the cover of ethnic separatists from
Nagornyy Karabakh, that has occupied Azerbaijani territories,"
Musabayov said. He added that such wording would be more precise.
The analyst said that the USA has always sought some balance to
neutralize the reaction of the Armenian lobby in the USA and Armenia.
Ekho also recalled that, in last year’s State Department report
on human rights around the world in 2006, the report on Azerbaijan
and Armenia noted: Armenia has occupied the Azerbaijani territory
of Nagornyy-Karabakh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts. At
the time, this wording caused great displeasure among the Armenian
lobby in the US, which initially managed to secure a change to this
phrase in the report on Armenia. However, some time later, after a
demarche from the authorities in Baku, the State Department restored
the original wording to the document. On this occasion, in its report
for 2007, the State Department notes that ethnic separatists supported
by Armenia have occupied the Azerbaijani territory of Nagornyy Karabakh
and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts.
On the same day, opposition Yeni Musavat newspaper quoted the
director of the Turan news agency, Mehman Aliyev, as saying that the
"US government’s position on the issues mentioned in the report from
the US State Department is not successful". He thinks that the US
government’s position on Azerbaijan has not changed.
"These positions recur every year… But the point is what we get
out of this unchanging position."
Aliyev thinks that this position is not principled enough.
"There are no serious and real steps behind these statements… I do
not think that this report, this position, will lead to some serious
changes," Aliyev said.
The head of the opposition Musavat Party, Isa Qambar, said that "it is
necessary to switch from noting the truths to changing the situation".
Human rights activist Saida Qocamanli added that the report reflected
Azerbaijani realities.
"Undoubtedly, it is worth thinking about this report. It is worth
because we continue to punish journalists in 2008. The mistakes of
2007 continue this year as well," Qocamanli added.
An MP from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, Aydin Mirzazada, said
that there were "fairly positive points in the report".
"I positively assess the fact that the State Department noted reforms
in Azerbaijan and their results. There are critical materials at
some points. This stems from a lack of information or not getting
into the detail of the issue," Mirzazada said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
