The U.S. Embassy: NDİ works to support Azerbaijan

The  U.S. Embassy  rejected accusations the authorities of Azerbaijan  against the  U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDİ) and its representative to Baku Alex Grigoryevs.

These allegations were again expressed in a letter of  Attorney General, Zakir Garalov,  sent to the Ambassador Richard Morningstar. 

This letter, along with a printout of banking  operations  "accidentally" appeared  in the pro-government media. 

The letter of the General Prosecutor reads that  the representative of the  NDİ violated numerous laws of Azerbaijan. These violations are expressed in the fact that the representative  of NDİ during two years  took from his account cash and distributed as grant payments.

However,  from the letter  of the attorney General it is not clear who exactly were given the money, and what is the crime even if there were such payments?

Earlier, the head of the Presidential Administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev, (the true initiator of the campaign), said that if the violation of law is found,  Azerbaijan will stop cooperation with NDİ.

On request the agency Turan the press service of the U.S. Embassy reported that a letter from the attorney general actually arrived and was passed to NDİ for its review.

As for the substance of claims, the U.S. embassy said: "We reiterate that  the NDİ and its director work to support Azerbaijan`s civil society engagement and democratic development."

In the elections year the  Azerbaijani  authorities  tend to limit the activities of Western NGOs  and to limit their control over electoral process, as well as pre-election situation.

Official Baku plans to reduce activity of international NGOs, as well as OSCE Office to Baku.-02В-