Adviser to the US President, John Podesta, discussed the issue of human rights in Azerbaijan in a “one-on-one meeting” with President Ilham Aliyev. Podesta, who is on an official visit to Baku, said this in a meeting with journalists on Friday.
John Podesta, chief adviser to the President of the United States on climate issues, said that leading the COP event imposes an obligation on those countries, including Azerbaijan, to respect human rights, dialogue and press freedom in the country.
“Our expectation is that the management of COP29 will give Azerbaijan the opportunity to fulfill these obligations. Our recommendation is that the eyes of the whole world will be on Azerbaijan at the COP29 event. How Azerbaijan will answer such questions should be thought about,” the chief adviser to the US President told the BBC Azerbaijani reporter.
John Podesta met with Ilham Aliyev this week. His visit to Baku takes place at a time when a group of deputies in Azerbaijan sent proposals to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to review relations with the United States, called for the closure of USAID, and Ilham Aliyev criticized the United States.
According to John Podesta, they brought the same steps to the attention of the United Arab Emirates during COP28, and the other side “has done very good things” in this direction.
“It is up to Baku to create these standards. I think that Ilham Aliyev has his own opinion about which criticism is fair and which criticism is unfair. In our one-on-one discussions, he brought them up and I brought our expectations to his attention. I think we understood each other,” he said.
At a time when the political relations between the United States and Azerbaijan are strained, both sides emphasized that there are strong relations related to COP29.
“We have very strong relations regarding COP29, if you ask the government of Azerbaijan, they will also admit that the US is providing very strong support to Azerbaijan for the success of the COP event. We believe that if Azerbaijan wants the COP29 event to be successful in the eyes of the world, then it should pay attention to certain standards such as openness, transparency and respect for freedoms,” said John Podesta.
In the report of Azertaj, which reported on the meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, it was emphasized that there was “good cooperation” between the delegations of Azerbaijan and the US COP. “President Ilham Aliyev noted with pleasure that John Podesta established good relations with the Azerbaijani side,” Azertaj wrote.
The coldness observed in the Azerbaijan-US political relations for a long time intensified again on October 3 when about 60 representatives of the US Congress appealed to the Secretary of State Antony Blinken with the demand of “sanctions on Azerbaijan”.
The congressmen urged Blinken to put pressure on the official Baku regarding “violation of human rights, existence of political prisoners, threat of war to Armenia, non-compliance with international law” in Azerbaijan, which is preparing to host COP29.
The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, made a statement a day after this appeal, accusing Washington of preparing new sanctions against his country. He called this request “ugly” and said that he cannot influence their will.
John Podesta assessed the congressmen’s appeal to Secretary of State Antony Blinken as “their own independent point of view regarding human rights concerns in Azerbaijan”.
“I think that what they say is not able to influence the steps we take for the success of COP29 in Azerbaijan as an executive body. Of course, we, in our turn, express our concerns about the freedom of the press and the protection of human rights in Azerbaijan. Our opinion is that the success of COP29 will mostly serve the interests of Azerbaijan, and for this, standards such as human rights and freedom of the press should be paid attention to,” John Podesta said in response to the BBC Azerbaijani reporter’s question.
ABŞ Prezidentinin müşaviri: "COP29-a rəhbərlik Azərbaycanın üzərinə insan haqlarına hörmət öhdəliyi qoyur"
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