U.S Embassy apologizes for State Department's incorrect report on Azerbaijan

The U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan apologized for the incorrect report of the State Department on drug situation in Azerbaijan.

"I apologize to the Azerbaijani students and the society for the State Department's report. The American government works hard and can sometimes be wrong," U.S. Embassy spokesman Terry Davidson said.

Azerbaijani students rallies outside the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan to protest the Department of State report.

About 100 students voiced a protest against the U.S. Department of State report entitled "Drug Control Strategy - 2010".

The report released on March 2 said that about 30-35 percent of students are drug addicts in Azerbaijan.

"The report says that there are about 300,000 drug addicts. Roughly 30-35 percent of them are students. There are 140,000 students in Azerbaijan. The report's claiming that 100,000 of them are drug addicts is simply nonsense," Baku State University Students' Union Chairman Dashgyn Ganbarov said.

The protestors voiced "We say no to tendentious report of the U.S. State Department," We say no to drugs", "Do not slander students!".

"The number of drug user students of Azerbaijani universities was overrated in the report," he said. "I talked with representatives of the U.S. State Department for changes in the report. I do not know when it will be changed, but it will happen."

According to Davidson, the U.S. makes similar statements on many countries of the world, because drugs are a big problem today.

"We understand that the drug problem in the U.S. is much bigger than in Azerbaijan. We recognize that it was a mistake, but the main thing that we are working with Azerbaijan where drug abuse remains a serious problem," he said.


/Trend News/