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ALIYEV BLAMES 'ARMENIAN LOBBY' FOR INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24551589.html
17.04.2012
Azerbaijan - President Ilham Aliyev chairs a cabinet meeting in Baku,
16 Apr 2012.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has described the worldwide
"Armenian lobby" as his nation's number one enemy and seemingly blamed
it for international criticism of Baku's human rights record.
"The Armenian lobby is the driving force of negative information about
us," he said during a cabinet meeting held on Monday and reported by
Azerbaijani news agencies the following day.
"An information war is waged against us ... The Armenian lobby is
especially active in that information war. Attempts to badmouth
Azerbaijan, to deny Azerbaijan's realities, to present Azerbaijan to
the outside world as a backward and undemocratic country primarily
result from dirty deeds of the Armenian lobby," Aliyev said in remarks
cited by the official Azertag news agency.
"The scope of their influence is quite broad. They [Armenians] are
represented in the leading print media outlets of various countries.
Sometimes they go under different names and hide their ethnic origin,"
added Aliyev.
The Azerbaijani government's human rights record is under growing
international scrutiny ahead of the Eurovision song contest that will
he held in Baku next month. In recent reports cited by Western media,
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch strongly criticized
the government for breaking up opposition protests, jailing their
participants and suppressing broader dissent. There have even been
calls in the European Parliament and from human rights activists and
Azerbaijani bloggers for an international boycott of the contest.
Armenia withdrew from the annual show last month. It attributed the
boycott to Aliyev's March 1 remark that "Armenians of the world"
are Azerbaijan's main enemy.
The Azerbaijani leader made a similar, albeit more carefully worded,
statement on Monday. "For us, the number one enemy is the Armenian
lobby," he said. "We must be prepared to fight against it."
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24551589.html
17.04.2012
Azerbaijan - President Ilham Aliyev chairs a cabinet meeting in Baku,
16 Apr 2012.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has described the worldwide
"Armenian lobby" as his nation's number one enemy and seemingly blamed
it for international criticism of Baku's human rights record.
"The Armenian lobby is the driving force of negative information about
us," he said during a cabinet meeting held on Monday and reported by
Azerbaijani news agencies the following day.
"An information war is waged against us ... The Armenian lobby is
especially active in that information war. Attempts to badmouth
Azerbaijan, to deny Azerbaijan's realities, to present Azerbaijan to
the outside world as a backward and undemocratic country primarily
result from dirty deeds of the Armenian lobby," Aliyev said in remarks
cited by the official Azertag news agency.
"The scope of their influence is quite broad. They [Armenians] are
represented in the leading print media outlets of various countries.
Sometimes they go under different names and hide their ethnic origin,"
added Aliyev.
The Azerbaijani government's human rights record is under growing
international scrutiny ahead of the Eurovision song contest that will
he held in Baku next month. In recent reports cited by Western media,
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch strongly criticized
the government for breaking up opposition protests, jailing their
participants and suppressing broader dissent. There have even been
calls in the European Parliament and from human rights activists and
Azerbaijani bloggers for an international boycott of the contest.
Armenia withdrew from the annual show last month. It attributed the
boycott to Aliyev's March 1 remark that "Armenians of the world"
are Azerbaijan's main enemy.
The Azerbaijani leader made a similar, albeit more carefully worded,
statement on Monday. "For us, the number one enemy is the Armenian
lobby," he said. "We must be prepared to fight against it."