In his Feb. 15 letter, Yashar Aliyev, Azerbaijan's ambassador to the United States, mischaracterized the findings of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's report on the 2008 presidential elections in Azerbaijan, The Washington Post said in an article titled ‘Azerbaijan still has a long way to go toward democracy.’

The ambassador said that the report stated that the elections marked progress toward Azerbaijan meeting its international commitments with respect to elections. However, the report was speaking only of technical issues when it said Azerbaijan had made progress.

The report, which is available on the OSCE website, goes on to state that the election, "was characterized by a lack of robust competition, a lack of vibrant political discourse, and a restrictive media environment, and thus did not reflect some of the principles necessary for a meaningful and pluralistic democratic election." In addition, an OSCE report on the 2010 parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan stated, "the conduct of these elections overall was not sufficient to constitute meaningful progress in the democratic development of the country."