NEW AZERBAIJAN PARTY

“Azerbaijan is a state that is pursuing an independent policy. Our country is distinguished by its position and role in the international relations. I consider that the attempts by the U.S. or any other great state or international organization to interfere in Azerbaijan's internal affairs, foreign policy and control it, teach people how to live is not good. I believe that these attempts will produce no results.

As for Mr. Richard Morningstar’s interview, I think that his opinions neither comply with the spirit of the current Azerbaijan-US relations, nor with the requirements of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations adopted in 1961. According to the Convention, diplomats of foreign countries must respect the laws and norms of social life of the country in which they operate and should not interfere in the internal and external affairs of this country,” Chief of socio-political department of the Presidential Administration Ali Hasanov said in his interview with APA.

Hasanov said that most of the claims put forward by Morningstar recall subjective views reflected in the reports of some foreign NGOs that have been known for their anti-Azerbaijani position under the influence of the Armenian Diaspora for many years: “We are very concerned and thinking about this parallelism. Not only we, but the whole world finds it difficult to understand the logic of the ongoing events in different parts of the world with the active participation of the U.S. and West today. Maidan movements that took place in Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Ukraine and some other countries cross out all the progressive principles in the modern system of international relations. Unconstitutional changes of government carried out forcibly in independent countries, their severe consequences - socio-political instability, stirring up internal conflict and civil war, economic collapse, escalation of social disaster and others are not democratic changes as describes Mr. Ambassador but all these are a tragedy of these peoples. If any political circles want the same events to be repeated in Azerbaijan, too, there’s no doubt that they’ll be disappointed”.

Ali Hasanov said some political circles persuade political parties, non-governmental organizations, and media in Azerbaijan, finance them illegally, and direct them in favor of their own wills and against Azerbaijan’s national interests: “Numerous media reports concerning an agency named “Institute for Peace and Democracy” have been published recently. And it was discovered that a number of foundations in the West are transferring millions of funds to this kind of unregistered organizations. What purposes do these funds serve? And how are they spent? We possess no information. Azerbaijani laws require transparency in this field, and when relevant bodies begin to take measures in this direction, international intercessors intervene in the issue, starting to make claims as if institutes of civic society are put pressure on in Azerbaijan.”

The activity of Alex Grigorievs, resident country director for NDI in Azerbaijan, in March, 2013 can also be shown as an example. This organization spent a lot of money on the formation of youth radical protest group in Azerbaijan and organization of its illegal activities. The relevant government agencies of Azerbaijan were not informed about it and this issue still remains unclear. Of course, the government was forced to take serious measures when “Molotov cocktails” were found in the apartments of some of these young people. Following this, there was no need to wait too long for the hysterical statements of Western circles and politicized human rights organizations. The Maidan movementin Ukraine is a project of some international forces and they are responsible for what is happening in this country – for civil war, chaos and anarchy, state collapse. If those forces are willing to see the same processes in Azerbaijan, it is our duty to prevent it.

The PA official said that Azerbaijan has a very good friendship and partnership with all regional countries except for Armenia: “Armenia is the only regional country threatening regional security and pursuing an aggressive policy. Unfortunately the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan doesn’t speak about this real threat, instead gives grounds for various rumors about Azerbaijan’s neighbors. This is not a new trend. Thus Western officials and media have repeatedly tried to undermine the relations of Azerbaijan with the leading regional countries through various claims, unfounded statements and information. We must admit that the main reason of the recent misunderstanding between Azerbaijan-Iran relations was different kinds of misinformation leaked to media. However, all misunderstandings were eliminated during President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Iran in April of this year and the bilateral relations entered a new stage of development. Today Azerbaijan’s relations with all regional countries are at a high level”.

Hasanov stated that the strategic interests of the USA and Azerbaijan and friendly relations between the countries and people require the preservation and further development of the partnership. “And this is possible in case of mutual trust, environmentally friendly behavior, and refusal of useless steps like interfering in each other’s internal affairs and real contribution to development of bilateral relations. Azerbaijan considers these principles the main criteria in its foreign policy and relations with all friendly countries and expects the same attitude from its partners. We consider that all US officials, including Mr. Morningstar should take account of these realities and avoid non-biased, groundless claims and the rhetoric contrary to bilateral relations”.