Armenian ombudsman accuses Azeri media of spreading misinformation
Arminfo
8 Dec 04
Yerevan, 8 December: Armenian ombudsman Larisa Alaverdyan has protested
against the spread of misinformation by the Azerbaijani media. “It
has become obvious lately that the Azerbaijani mass media are working
flat out to undermine relations between the human rights commissioners
of Azerbaijan and Armenia by trying to engage the national rights
institutions in pseudo-political insinuations that have nothing in
common with the ideals of human rights,” says a statement circulated
by the department for information and public relations of the Armenian
ombudsman’s office.
The latest Berlin meeting of ombudsmen from Europe and the CIS
held under the auspices of the Council of Europe’s human rights
commissioner was no exception to this rule, the document says. The
misinformation about “victories” in the putative struggle against
the Armenian ombudsman who has allegedly failed to disprove facts,
was promptly published on the web site of Azartac, the Azerbaijani
state-owned news agency.
Meanwhile, Alaverdyan said the official press release of the Council
of Europe says that the meeting adopted only one document, the Berlin
declaration, which does not and could not contain a word about the
“accepted suggestions and demands” of the Azerbaijani ombudsman,
especially if they concerned the Karabakh conflict. Such misinformation
casts a shadow on the high forum of representatives of national human
rights institutions from Europe and the CIS.
“In parallel with this, an international conference of ombudsmen from
the CIS and Europe was held in Baku and the Armenian ombudsman was not
even invited there even though she had repeatedly said from different
international rostrums that she was ready to attend the Baku conference
because she believes it is very important to establish cooperation
between national human right institutions of Europe and the CIS,”
the statement said.
[Passage omitted: previous meetings at the level of ombudsmen]
“Unfortunately, the destabilizing role of Azerbaijan in the South
Caucasus region, which the Armenian media and public have been warning
about, has reached the area of protection of human rights. This compels
us to raise the issue of joining our efforts in creating an atmosphere
of real and effective work in the area of human rights which would
enable us to reject all attempts at distorting the essence of this
benevolent mission,” the statement said.