Why did the US Embassy stop the small grant projects that it has been issuing for many years? Answering this question from Turan during a briefing on November 22, US Ambassador Lee Lizenberger said that the atmosphere in Azerbaijan is currently “extremely limited.”
“We are for civil society and NGOs to be able to work freely and transparently with donors. The current situation does not allow this, because of which Azerbaijan suffers, because it cannot develop a civil society,” he said.
When asked by Turan about the assessment of the state of independent media and political prisoners in Azerbaijan, the ambassador noted that the public should have access to various sources of information in order to have an objective idea of what is happening. The United States has traditionally supported media freedoms.
As for fundamental freedoms, “we are concerned when we see people being detained and persecuted for exercising their constitutional rights – freedom of assembly or freedom of speech,” the ambassador said.
According to him, negotiations with the authorities on these topics are ongoing and there are certain achievements. “I expect there will be even more of them,” the diplomat said.
Source: Turan News Agency