Azerbaijan, Baku, 17 January /corr. Trend I.Alizade / Describing Azerbaijan in reports by the international organizations in a negative way could result in a decrease in Baku's influence in the world and region and aims to put pressure on the country.
"The reports of the international organizations do not describe the difficult situation of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Azerbaijan and measures being taken by the State to resolve this problem. In addition, reports do not highlight the permission given for the construction of a Catholic Church in the center of Baku although generally there are 330 Catholics in Azerbaijan," the Head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Chairman of Azerbaijan Parliament's Commission for International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations, Samed Seyidov, reported to Trend on 16 January.
The annual report by the Freedom House international organization describes Azerbaijan as a non-free country.
According to Seyidov, international organizations only wish to present Azerbaijan as a country where freedom of speech, freedom of media, human rights and political freedoms are being violated. The Head of the delegation does not deny that there are such problems in Azerbaijan. "If there would not be problems in Azerbaijan, the working group from the representatives of the government, MPs and law observers would not function, as well as the country would not undertake obligations before the Council of Europe, would realize joint reforms and would not be monitored. However, it is clear that the goals in overstating these problems in the reports regarding Azerbaijan are to disgrace Azerbaijan to the world," Seyidov said.
According to him, despite this, Baku should seriously analyze the reports describing Azerbaijan and study all issues.
Without Azerbaijan it is impossible to carry out any issue in South Caucasus, Seyidov said. "The image of Baku influences the European policy and Azerbaijan has possibilities to have its positions accepted at an international level. Therefore, various organizations will put pressure on Azerbaijan," he said.