RICE’S ASSESSMENT OF SITUATION IN AZERBAIJAN BIASED – BAKU
Interfax News Agency
May 3 2008
Russia
Azeri leaders have criticized U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice’s assessment of Azerbaijan’s democracy record.
"Rice’s statement is based on unreliable information and is not
serious, in my opinion," presidential chief of staff Ramiz Mekhtiyev
told journalists on Saturday.
What the U.S. secretary of state said suggests that while the political
situation and other problems have been resolved brilliantly in Georgia
and in Armenia, Azerbaijan remains a backward regional country,
Mekhtiyev said.
"By Rice’s logic, if our country is to win any appraisal from her,
the situation in Armenia in February-March must repeat itself in
Azerbaijan," Mekhtiyev said.