Sebastian Kurtz: Talks on Human Rights have been hard

Bilateral relations in the political and economic sphere and the Karabakh conflict settlement were discussed yesterday at a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Austria.

This was announced by Elmar Mammadyarov at a press conference after the meeting.

He noted that sometimes officials, deputies and journalists of countries recognizing the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan take steps in support of Karabakh separatists.

"Unfortunately, we see double standards in relation to Azerbaijan. This prevents a just settlement of the Karabakh conflict," said Mammadyarov.

The Austrian Minister Sebastian Kurtz, in turn, noted the importance of cooperation with Azerbaijan.

According to him, political and economic relations with Azerbaijan are developing within the framework of cooperation with the EU.

On the question of the Austrian journalist why Azerbaijan has not issued a visa to the Austrian journalist Jutta Bauer, Mammadyarov said that she visited the occupied territories of Azerbaijan "illegally", without Azerbaijan's permission.

"Everyone should respect the laws of other countries and should not hide behind the European institutions,” said Mammadyarov.

In turn, the Austrian Foreign Minister said: "I understand the concern of the Azerbaijani side. The Austrian journalist’s visit to the occupied territories of Azerbaijan was illegal," he said.

Meanwhile, the radio station Azadlig says Kurtz at the meetings with the President and the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan noted the importance of improving the human rights situation.

"With the Minister of Foreign Affairs we had a more detailed discussion. I presented him with a list of political prisoners. We discussed the issue of human rights, and the discussions were very hard," said Kurtz.

Radio Azadlig also emphasizes that at the press conference of the two ministers only pro-government media of Azerbaijan were allowed to ask questions, so they talked about human rights violations in Austria and double standards in Europe.

According to Mammadyarov, "the human rights situation in Azerbaijan is better than in other countries in the region and even Europe."

Note that Azerbaijan is currently head of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. -16D06--