Mehdiyev of "bad" America and "good" Europe

The Head of the Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev accused the U.S. of double standards and bias in the presidential elections in Azerbaijan.

At the same time, Mehdiyev accused OSCE ODIHR of performance of indications coming from the USA. To confirm his words, he pointed to the contradictory assessments of the election by ODIHR and the State Department on the one hand, and the PACE and the European Parliament on the other.

According to Mehdiyev, European officials and parliamentarians are exposed to U.S. pressure.

"We understand the complexity of the situation in which European politicians have got, because they are under pressure from some quarters in Washington. However, this does not justify the double standards applied against Azerbaijan. I believe that such short-sighted actions and, in particular, attempts to pressure the position of PACE and the European Parliament on the elections in Azerbaijan by some officials in the State Department damage the partnership between the U.S. and Azerbaijan," said Mehdiyev in an interview with the agency Interfax -Azerbaijan.

"The involuntary change in the positions of the European structures is dictated from the outside and is deeply regrettable. It turns out that the level of partnership and cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union countries should be dependent on the whims and loyalties of certain circles in the U.S. State Department. This is evident from the way some officials in Washington, DC leave no attempt to impose a minority view (ODIHR OSCE and the U.S. State Department) on the majority (OSCE, the European Parliament and PACE), even if the majority unanimously noted the positive progress, freedom and transparency of the electoral process in Azerbaijan," said Mehdiyev.

Some political circles in the United States have not abandoned the idea to isolate Azerbaijan, Mehdiyev said. "But they were isolated themselves. And in order to justify their plans, they put pressure on the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and other international organizations, forcing them to abandon the positive evaluation of the results of the elections in Azerbaijan. But they do not realize that even their rejection of their own earlier assessment does not change anything. The world community in the face of the overwhelming number of heads of state and government congratulated President Ilham Aliyev on his landslide victory in the presidential elections in October 2013," believes Mehdiyev.

It is noteworthy that Mehdiyev said that Baku is ready to cooperate with the European institutions and made overtures to Europe, although a couple of days ago, state-controlled media called Aliyev to reconsider participation in the EU program "Eastern Partnership" and the Azerbaijani delegation to the PA Euronest announced its withdrawal from the structure. -06D-