Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 29 / Trend E.Mehtiev /
Public organizations in Azerbaijan protest against inclusion of Azerbaijan in the list of dangerous and risky countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan and Libya, initiated by the U.S. State Department.
Such information appearing on agenda following each success of Azerbaijan in international arena astonishes Azerbaijani youth and causes their regret, chairwoman of Organization of Integration of Azerbaijani Youth into Europe (AGAT) Gulsel Safarova said.
According to her, Azerbaijan is now a country holding events of the highest level.
"As Azerbaijan gains success in the international arena, we witness appearance of biased information as a result of influence of pro-Armenian forces and Armenian lobby," Safarova said.
According to her, Azerbaijan for many years has been the closest ally of the U.S. and Europe in combating terrorism.
Whilst holding the "Eurovision" song contest, the International Humanitarian Forum and other international events in Azerbaijan no terrorist attacks, no accidents causing threat to human life have occured, Safarova said.
"In this particular case, it is unclear on what base and what criteria Azerbaijan is put on a par with such countries as Afghanistan, Sudan, Libya and Somalia. Along with the United States Azerbaijan is fighting terrorism in Afghanistan. Azerbaijan is providing humanitarian assistance to Somalia, and beyond that, is known in the world for its tolerance," Safarova said.
According to her, Azerbaijan is making a huge contribution to interfaith and intercultural dialogue.
"Given all the mentioned, we perceive this information as biased and introduced as a result of the work of pro-Armenian forces and the Armenian lobby. We, as the Azerbaijani youth organization, believe this information is biased and prejudiced," Safarova said.
Rufiz Gonagov, Co-Chair of the Alliance for Cooperation of NGOs, uniting 55 NGOs operating in Azerbaijan, told Trend that inclusion of Azerbaijan in the list of dangerous countries should be regarded as unfair, arbitrary and unilateral approach.
"If Azerbaijan were risky and dangerous country, it would not be possible to host so many international events here. Surely, it is all biased information," said Gonagov.
Any diplomat, ambassador, international organization visits Azerbaijan and holds events, Gonagov said.
So far, they have not experienced any provocations and incidents, Gonagov noted.
According to him, today Azerbaijan is a developing country exporting oil and gas
to other countries.
"I believe inclusion of Azerbaijan in the list of dangerous countries is totally unfair. The main goal is to scare tourists visiting the country, discourage international companies wishing to invest in Azerbaijan, and at the same time damage the authority of Azerbaijan, interfere with holding in Azerbaijan 2015 European Olympic Games and intimidate countries and international organizations", Gonagov added.