Western Azerbaijan Community rejects US State Department report as biased

The Western Azerbaijan Community has dismissed the latest US State Department annual report on religious freedom around the world as biased and anti-Azerbaijani.

“The document includes chapters on Azerbaijan and Armenia. Both, being essentially biased, have a pronounced anti-Azerbaijani character,” Report informs, citing a statement of the Western Azerbaijan Community.

The State Department pays great attention to unfounded claims against Armenian religious monuments in Azerbaijan, but for some reason ignores the facts of the complete expulsion of Azerbaijanis from Armenia on the grounds of ethnic and religious hatred, the destruction of about 300 mosques registered by the state in this country, and all other religious and cultural heritage of Azerbaijanis, the statement notes.

"The mentioned report of the State Department, as the only source of claims related to Azerbaijan, indicates slanderous fabrications set forth by three Armenian authors with radical nationalist views (L. Khachaturyan, O. Ghulyan, S. Bokcheriyan), which are allegedly funded by Cornell University in the USA, but in fact - by extremist organisations such as the Pan-Armenian Charitable Union and the Foundation Aragats, which proves the bias of this report.

The Western Azerbaijani Community called on “the US State Department to edit these chapters of the report, exclude unfounded claims and reflect in the report the Azerbaijanophobic tendencies rampant in Armenia, as well as the facts of the systematic destruction of the religious and cultural heritage of Azerbaijan, including mosques and cemeteries, which is a violation of religious rights and freedoms”.

“In addition, we call on the US government to make efforts to force Armenia to stop the destruction of the aforementioned heritage and restore what it has already destroyed. Finally, we hope that, in accordance with our appeal to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the US government will make appropriate efforts to ensure the safe and dignified return of the Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia to their homes, and after their return, to protect their rights and freedoms, including religious ones," the statement reads.