Letter of Mr. Tahir Taghizade, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the UK to the Editor of The Guardian (December 24, 2018)

Dear Editor,

I want to refer to the article by Luke Harding headed “Azerbaijan leader’s daughters tried to buy £60 m London home with offshore funds” and published on December 21, 2018 which to my regret includes a number of subjective allegations against President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and his family members.

The claims that were raised in the article are yet another product of negative bias that The Guardian as well as the author – Luke Harding hold against the Republic of Azerbaijan. The subject article is mostly based on unfounded allegations and thus to me is clearly defamatory.

Unfortunately, The Guardian has continuously been involved in negative blackmailing propaganda against the Republic of Azerbaijan run by certain groups and individuals and aimed at undermining the country’s constantly improving image. This is not the first time that The Guardian is abortively targeting the Republic of Azerbaijan and its political elite with groundless accusations which have never been proved.

On another note, we would like to remind that Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) as well as the national legislations of almost all democratic countries including those of the UK’s and Azerbaijan’s upholds the people’s right to private life. We are of the opinion that, as one of the UK’s most-read newspapers, the Guardian should put more emphasis on concrete and specific cases such as the case related to Azerbaijani citizen Zamira Hajiyeva rather than scanning people’s private lives trying to find grounds for the conclusions prepared in advance.

I think that readers of the Guardian both in UK and otherwise deserve better.