The Head of Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev spoke today with new and serious accusations against the West, claiming interference in the internal affairs of the country.
In an interview with a number of pro-government agencies, he said that the official data on 84.55 % of votes in favor of Ilham Aliyev are utterly regular and fair.
According to him, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fule and other officials congratulated Azerbaijan "on the conduct of fair and transparent elections, highlighting the country's commitment to democratic values."
As for the assessment of elections by the OSCE ODIHR, he said that "he cannot agree with the majority of the report."
The ODIHR assessment is biased and leads to serious thoughts.
No one was denied to hold "exit polls," said Mehdiyev.
"We categorically reject assessment of the presidential election given by the U.S. State Department and the ODIHR, and we believe it is an extremely disgraceful fact, biased and dishonest attitude," said Mehdiyev .
He described it all as the work of pro-Armenian lobby.
Such actions have the purpose to provoke and escalate the situation in the Azerbaijan society, and create negative processes, said the head of the administration of President Ilham Aliyev.
He further accused the United States that Washington's representatives "advised to give the representative of the National Council 25 % of the vote, and leave themselves 74-75 %, and that in such a State Department assessment of the votes would be balanced," Mehdiyev said , describing it as an insult to the people of Azerbaijan.
Further, he rejected accusations of pressure on the media in Azerbaijan, saying that such a phenomenon is in the U.S., citing a statement by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Therefore, Mehdiyev assessed the criticism by the Department of State as an attempt to interfere in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs.
He further said that "the ODIHR is not an independent organization" and operates under the dictation of the U.S. Department of State.
With regard to relations with the opposition, Mehdiyev said that the debate on ITV showed that "the opposition is not ready for a civilized struggle." -02D-
Politics
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Armenia is not against the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, but does not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue now. "In the context of peace, we consider it possible to make a decision on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. When peace is an established fact, the existence of such a format may raise questions," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference today. "The whole question is about the timing, we need to understand how effectively and correctly to turn such topics into a subject of discussion right now," the Armenian Prime Minister added.
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He expressed his willingness to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the border between the two countries. "A meeting with Ilham Aliyev could take place at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. I am open to such a format," Pashinyan said at a press conference today. According to Pashinyan, Armenia recently presented another proposal for a peace treaty to Azerbaijan.
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On August 31, Azerbaijan observes a "day of silence" before the Sunday’s early parliamentary elections for the unicameral Milli Majlis. All electoral campaigning is prohibited 24 hours before the voting. The early elections were initiated by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party. This decision was motivated by the overlap of the scheduled elections in November with the global UN forum - the COP20 climate conference taking place in Baku.
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On August 30, at approximately 22:55, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant in Metsamor was disconnected from the country's power grid, as reported by the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. The shutdown was caused by a lightning strike, which triggered the plant's safety systems to switch the station to a safe shutdown mode. Currently, the plant's staff is working on restarting the facility.
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