Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 8
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
The campaign to discredit Azerbaijan, which continues to grow as the first European Games approach, is intended to harm the country's international prestige, but this campaign will be unsuccessful as well, MP of Milli Majlis (Parliament) Eldar Guliyev told Trend.
He said that the campaign also involves the Armenian lobby. Activities of the Armenians were exposed throughout the world, he said, adding that the countries do not accept invitations to events on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the so-called genocide sent by them, refuse to participate in these activities.
The Armenians carry out this campaign in order to hide their non-constructive position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to the MP.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Guliyev said that there are also forces inside the country that support the campaign.
Unfortunately, they do not want the growth of the international prestige of Azerbaijan, development of sports in the country, he said, adding that they put their own interests above the national ones.
Azerbaijan every time turns into a target for some foreign circles by hosting international events, Guliyev said, adding that experience from previous years shows that such attempts will not bring any result, he said.
Baku 2015 is the first ever European Games, an exciting and innovative multi-sport event for the continent which will take place on June 12-28, 2015.
There will be a total of 20 sports at Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports. More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe will be representing their nations over 17 days of competition.
Baku was awarded the games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012.