Mountaineering Federation accuses the Ministry of Environment of violation of their rights

Today, some media published a statement of the press service of the Ministry of Ecology, with serious allegations against the leaders of the Mountaineering Federation of the country. In particular, the Federation leaders are accused of serving foreign interests, provocations and many other sins.

In response, the Mountaineering Federation (MF) issued a statement in which it noted that the Ministry of Ecology has long been deliberately failing the events of the MF, unreasonably denying access to traditional zones of climbing activities in the Mountain  Shahdag.

A few days ago, the Ministry of Ecology prevented  a group from climbing in the area for ridiculous reasons.

The "Ministry of Ecology sent a letter stating that the MF refuses to conduct any activities in the area Shahdag. The reason stated was that the members of the Mountaineering Federation "conducted a black PR campaign against the Ministry of Environment in social networks."

The  official response from the Ministry of Ecology, signed by the Director of the Department,

V.Javadov, reads that those “who  can behave responsively” can  apply for permission to visit the region.  In conclusion, the answer states that the Ministry of Ecology in the future will have to deal only with those "who are responsible for themselves and their members."

According to the Ecology Ministry, the "Black PR" are photographs of garbage in the area of ​​the National Park, which has not been cleaned for years.  People who visited the mountain put photos  of the debris on one of the pages on the social network Facebook (Community mountaineers and climbers from Azerbaijan and other countries.) In response, in social networks, and on the pages controlled by the Federation of Air and Extreme Sports (FAIREX), headed by the Minister of Ecology, “began dirty harassment and abuse, including on a national basis, against the people who have published photos," the statement said.

The attempts by the Ministry of Ecology and FAIREX to act as a censor in this situation seem  ridiculous. This agency should have to say thank you to those who point to the drawbacks, and not try to shut them up (unless the Ministry of Environment does not want to hide these flaws).

The MF considers such action as another, deliberate attempt to disrupt the activities of the Ministry of Ecology, whose leadership heads the FAIREX.

This is not the first time. In 2011 the Ministry of Ecology simply ignored our appeal on charges of climbing with more than 80 people on the day of the National Army and not giving admission to the national park. Then the athletes were forced to move to neighboring Georgia, and on June 26 raised the national flag of Azerbaijan over one of the peaks of that country," said  the climbers.

"Leadership of FAIREX never tires of throwing mud at one  of the oldest federations of the country, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. So, our opponents are trying to downplay and dilute the significance of the achievements of Azerbaijani climbers, intentionally  misleading international sporting structures, stating that our federation "collapsed"  climbing in Azerbaijan.

They write insulting letters to UIAA (International Mountaineering Federation), systematically accuse the head of the  MF, of living in another country, and most disgustingly,  they accuse  the MF leadership of betraying national interests.

We have long sought ways to compromise and have tried to  avoid confrontation. Through the Ministry of Youth and Sports a gentlemen's agreement has been reached: to carry out all  republican competitions together under the auspices of the Ministry of Sport - by the two federations, without interfering with each other - but in fact all these agreements are violated by FAIREX.

For two years, the MF has been removed from the competition climbing, which it has been holding for  40 years. There are attempts to deprive us of  climbing and its elements," reads  the statement.

Finally Azerbaijan Mountaineering Federation says: "We are convinced that the cause of all this -  is policy  of FAIREX, which is aggressive, unfriendly and  has raider character.

Moreover, the  leadership of  FAIREX  freely  uses administrative levers to lock and disruption  of events by MF,  invades the area of responsibility of our federation, duplicates our events, trying at the national and international levels to deprive us of discipline related to climbing (rock climbing, ice climbing, sport climbing and etc.)

All this is contrary to the law of the Republic of Azerbaijan sport whereby one sport must be submitted by one federation. In spite of this, the management of  FAIREX requires recognition that mountain sports - mountain climbing and rock climbing are in its possession, and without its  consent, no climbing activity can not be conducted. At the same time, they  use all the resources of the state department, through the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in support FAIREX

We  call on the Ministry of Youth and Sport of Azerbaijan the country to draw attention to inappropriate behavior of the management  of FAIREX, and put an end to its policy of raiding.

We also draw attention of the competent authorities to the reports published in the press and the Internet, systematic abuse, violating the constitutional rights of the citizens of Azerbaijan," the statement MF.-0-