The deputy head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Novruz Mammadov, today responded to yesterday’s comment of British Ambassador to Azerbaijan Irfan Siddiq,
contact.az
reported.
In his
Twitter
post, Mammadov wrote: “#UK’s Ambassador to #Azerbaijan called it a shame that some #British journalists were not accredited. Apparently, UK’s Ambassador believes he can say and do whatever he wants about Azerbaijan. It is disappointing.”
On June 17, 2015, British Ambassador Siddiq told
Turan News Agency
that denying entry to British journalists to cover the European Games was “a shame.”
“Unfortunately, some British journalists were not given accreditation to attend the show. It is a shame that some journalists were deprived from being part of this occasion,” he added. “It has also had a regrettable impact for Azerbaijan.”
“If the intention behind denying accreditation to journalists was to prevent negative coverage, it had the opposite result, as it only produced more negative stories. Accepting differing points of view is one of the hallmarks of a strong democracy. It is important that Azerbaijan allows free access to all media and other interested parties to attend and observe the European Games and express their opinions about the games freely,” Siddiq concluded.
