Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 23
By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:
Various circles in the West and Europe are following an erroneous path, which is not useful even for them, Azerbaijani presidential administration's deputy head, director of the foreign relations department at the administration, Novruz Mammadov said Sept. 23.
He was commenting on the PACE President Anne Brasseur's visit to Azerbaijan.
Mammadov said from this point of view, the essence of negotiations with the West and Europe lies in the need that they take a fair stance.
Mammadov said the West and Europe must be fair not only in words but also in their deeds.
"This is our main position," he said.
Mammadov noted Azerbaijan states its own position in talks with the representatives of the West and Europe.
He went on to say that nothing is impossible without democratic development.
"Azerbaijan, as a rule-of-law state, had conducted very big reforms in the political and other spheres, and will further continue to do so," Mammadov said, adding that today all human rights are provided in Azerbaijan, and there are freedom of speech, opinion and expression in the country.
"In the classic sense, there are no restrictions on expression of position, statements of some structures, dissemination of any information on the internet, expression of views by the NGOs and parties," he said.
"From this point of view, we are actually walking a great path of development. Actually everyone sees this and knows this. But, unfortunately, in different years in different countries there were and there are still circles that envy this," Mammadov said.
He stressed that Azerbaijan's position is fair.
"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was among the first conflicts that emerged after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the USSR," Mammadov said. "If the West held a fair position on this issue from the very beginning and tried to resolve this conflict in a short time, the subsequent conflicts would have also been settled and we wouldn't witness the current situation in the world," he said.
"But the West showed a subjective position, often supporting Armenia. The same is with the other conflicts, as well."
He said a serious tension has emerged today and the heads of European states and structures do not exactly know what they are doing, so they are stuck in a no-win situation.
"Now they seem to be receiving punishment for their steps and mistakes committed previously, and this will probably continue, since the principle of justice is above all," Mammadov underscored.
He noted that there are no political prisoners in Azerbaijan. "We have repeatedly stated about it. There are persons who have committed certain crimes, and try to pass themselves off as politicians."
"We have no pretensions to anyone with normal political views. However, if a politician commits a crime, and takes a wrong step inconsistent with the law, he must answer for this in accordance with the law. This is quite normal," Mammadov said.