The Azerbaijani authorities disrupted a conference of young leaders in Europe and America

A  Conference of Young Leaders of Europe and America, based in Berlin, has been cancelled. The conference was scheduled for April 17-20 in Baku, and was organized by the Atlantic Council "Global Bridge" and the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan.

The cause of failure came from objections from Azerbaijan, who opposed the inclusion of a number of representatives of civil society known for its independent stance and opposition views in the list of those  invited by the Atlantic Council, according to Anar Mammadov,  head of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (EMDSC).

According to him, the conference has been in preparation since the autumn of last year, and was supposed to discuss issues relating to human rights, democracy and security in the South Caucasus.

"About three weeks ago I received a letter from Berlin that the Azerbaijan opposed my participation in the conference. For me, it was not a problem; I thought that someone else from civil society would raise topical issues of democracy and human rights. However, a week later, I received another letter stating that the conference was cancelled because the authorities of Azerbaijan do not want to see the participants of a critical civil society, " said Mammadov.

According to him, the blogger Emin Milli was also invited to the conference. "I do not have information about other guests," said Mammadov.

Such conferences with the participation of about 200 young leaders of America and Europe have been held by the Atlantic Council "Global Bridge" since 2001. Previously, they were held in Germany, Italy, Turkey, Cyprus, Slovenia, Kosovo. and last year in Georgia.

Because of the cancellation of the conference in Baku, it will now take place in Antalya.

 The Center for Strategic Studies confirmed the cancellation of the conference, but did not explain  the reasons.—06B-