President: Attempts to tarnish, sully and belittle Azerbaijan are all in vain

Baku, January 12, AzerTAc “Attempts to tarnish, sully and belittle Azerbaijan, a country that enjoys great authority in the international arena today, are all in vain,” President Ilham Aliyev has told a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to the results of socioeconomic development in 2014 and objectives for 2015. “They are completely futile and will never affect our policy. No outside force can speak to us in the language of ultimatums. Everyone should know this. We defend our position in all official statements and discussions held behind closed doors.” The President said: “We are far from double standards, and we believe that there is no room for double standards in international relations. These standards also work against those trying to apply them. We are seeing this from history and the developments unfolding in the world. Interference in internal affairs and coercion of someone into doing something – this does not benefit anyone. This violates stability, leads to bloody clashes in these countries and ultimately has a negative effect on those behind these bloody clashes.” “Today all countries of the world are connected to each other, and events taking place somewhere can reverberate elsewhere. I want to reiterate that our position is fair. It is based on international law. We have successfully defended and will defend this position,” the head of state added.