AZERBAIJAN THE MOST DEMOCRATIC REGIONAL STATE – ALIYEV

Interfax News Agency, Russia
April 18 2008

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has blamed the West for applying double
standards in relation to Azerbaijan.Azerbaijan is the most democratic
state in the region. But for some reason, the moment some petty
provocation occurs here, the world community raises a lot of noise,
foreign ambassadors start making improper statements, and the foreign
press goes the whole hog to accuse Azerbaijan of not being democratic,
the Azeri president said on Friday.

"How long are we going to tolerate that? This suggests that double
standards are being applied to us. We reject these accusations and
will never accept them," Aliyev said.

The world community’s indifference to massive abuses of human rights
in Armenia is an example of double standards being applied in the
region, he said.