NEWTIMES

As it has already been reported the director of "Turan Information Agency" Mehman Aliyev was taken into police custody on 24 August 2017 upon the verdict issued by the Yasamal District Court of Baku. He was charged with illegal entrepreneurship (article 192.2.2. of the Penal Code), tax evasion (article 213.1) and abuse of power (article 308.1). That event was nearly a gift for those who search for any opportunity to launch a black PR campaign against Azerbaijan. They have immediately produced statements, alleging that democracy, freedom of speech and human rights are violated in Azerbaijan. Certain like-minded entities that are controlled from the same command center have almost simultaneously embarked upon a crusade against Azerbaijan. Those very entities choose to turn a blind eye on the developments in the countries of their own. In this context, it would be fascinating to scrutinize reports and papers by the leading international institutions, as well as international and local NGO's with respect to human rights violations in the recent years in the Western nations.

Here it goes again. Certain media outlets and pseudo-organizations have launched the next anti-Azerbaijan campaign. This time around their primary target is the President of Azerbaijan and his family. They have come up with bogus figures, alleging that some clandestine money transactions were made and act as if those allegations are backed by solid facts. But we all know that the song is old. They just added some new verses to it. Each time that Azerbaijan moves forward with an undertaking of international relevance, the envious ones resort to all sorts of fabrications. All of that is done against the backdrop of impotence and inaction of the Armenian authorities. While Azerbaijan has been very energetic on the international scene in the recent month Yerevan did nothing but complain and implore for help. To no avail by the way; those efforts cannot undermine Azerbaijan's posture. The rapid development and reforms across all areas will continue. The people of the country rally around the nation's leader. And given the enormous historical experience, the society cherishes the value of the independent statehood.

The question we all want to know, is where did it come from? John McCain keeps hiding and refuses to answer that question! What we do know, thanks to an investigation by The Daily Caller, is that the McCain Institute for International Leadership received a VERY GENEROUS donation from none other than George Soros. The institute is intended to serve as a ''legacy'' for McCain. It ''is dedicated to advancing human rights, dignity, democracy and freedom''. It is also a tax-exempt non-profit foundation with assets valued at $8.1 million and associated with Arizona State University.

National psychology plays a crucial role in building and shaping a foreign policy. A psychological aspect should be taken into account when assessing economic, political or security policy of countries. Developed by humans, foreign policy is inevitably affected by their psychology, mood, thinking, and world view. Armenia`s foreign policy has been shaped by President Serzh Sargsyan and his team for 10 years. Members of Sargsyan`s team have changed several times over these years, but his foreign policy remains unchanged. The reason is that it is his views that form the backbone of this policy.

As the entire world addresses the urgency of combating international terrorism Armenia's armed forces have resorted to yet another provocation against Azerbaijan. As a result of a mortar fire launched from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, the Alkhanli village of the Fizuli district was shelled, killing a woman in her fifties and her two year old granddaughter. This was a despicable incident. Even the most violence-prone people condemned this atrocity. The official Baku reacted fiercely and demanded the enemy to cease such provocations. Turkey's official circles were also swift to condemn, in the strongest terms, the killing of innocent civilians and demanded putting an end to incidents of this kind. That being said, we witnessed deafening silence on behalf of several big nations. Those quarters who constantly remind the world of the humanitarian tragedy in the Middle East choose not to speak out. They must know that it is the very attitude that emboldens Armenia and allows the latter to drag this region towards greater catastrophes. Preventing this process is a must.

We have achieved enough but we can do much more and much better. Good political relations are not transferred with full capacity into good and growing economic relations. Partly it is because of several years of economic crisis in my homeland, and partly because of economic problems, primarily due to oil prices, that affected Azerbaijan. This is a temptation that we are passing through together in order to after solutions to these problems we would be truly recognized and reliable partners both in South Eastern Europe and the Southern Caucasus.

Few days ago, the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games ended. A total of 2,800 athletes from more than 50 Islamic countries, including apart from Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Suriname, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Yemen came together from 12 to 22 May 2017 to represent their nations over 10 days of competition across 20 different sports.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the restoration of state independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan, I would like to sincerely congratulate and to address greetings of prosperity to all the people of Azerbaijan. This is a significant historical event. It's important to underline that Romania has been the second state in the world to recognize the independence of Azerbaijan (on December 11, 1991). Following that moment, diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Romania were established on June 19, 1992.

8 May is celebrated as Victory in Europe Day. By reference to 8 May 1945, it's celebrated to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. It thus marked the end of World War II in Europe- so, the end of fascism in Europe.

This week in Azerbaijan was held The 4th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue under the auspices of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in cooperation with UNESCO, UN Alliance of Civilizations, UN World Tourism Organization, Council of Europe, ISESCO, North-South Center of the Council of Europe. Based on the main principles of the global agenda of Dialogue among Civilisations adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, the UNESCO Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the Islamic Declaration on Cultural Diversity, Declaration and Action Plan of the Third Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe member states, the Council of Europe White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, as well as the Baku Declaration for the Promotion of Intercultural Dialogue, the previous World Forums have reached remarkable achievements.