Azerbaijani ambassador to US responds to criticism in New York Times
Politics 21 January 2015 12:36 (UTC+04:00)
By Jamila Jafarova - Trend:
Azerbaijani ambassador to US Elin Suleymanov responded to the recent criticism over the country in the US daily newspaper New York Times.
"While a Jan. 12 editorial rightly underscores Azerbaijan's contribution to European energy security and promoting intercultural dialogue, it shows little appreciation for the changing realities in Eurasia," Suleymanov's article says.
Earlier, New York Times expressed criticism over Azerbaijan, referring to WikiLeaks, which publishes the information taken from anonymous sources.
"Should America's partners relate to Washington based on what they learn about the United States from WikiLeaks, a source that you quote, or through the prism of individual cases, where the American view of justice differs from perceptions abroad? If so, the conversation would be reduced to counterproductive mutual accusations," he wrote.
Suleymanov said that instead, focusing on a positive agenda and working to address real challenges - like the humanitarian needs of hundreds of thousands of displaced victims of Armenia's occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the territories around it - is a more productive approach. This would certainly fit both American values and interests.
"Finally, although the article seems to dismiss assertions that a coordinated campaign is waged against Azerbaijan, the sudden increase of one-sided criticism of my country in the American media speaks for itself," Suleymanov wrote.
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