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A serious diplomatic scandal arises between Baku and Washington. Criticism of the presidential elections in Azerbaijan by U.S. Department of State and the fact that Barack Obama hasn’t congratulated Ilham Aliyev on his third presidential term yet worsened already less than perfect Azerbaijani-American relations, Orhan Sattarov, the head of the head of the European bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza writes.

The author notes that the head of the presidential administration Ramiz Mehtiyev who usually prefers not to communicate with the mass media has met journalists from leading Azerbaijani periodicals. At the meeting the top official who is thought to be one of key figures in the country expressed his disappointment and indignation on the estimation of the presidential elections in the country by the observing mission of OSCE/ODIHR and U.S. Department of State.

Criticizing the Americans for double standards and insincerity in partnership with Azerbaijan, Mehtiyev doubted the adequateness of the report by OSCE/ODIHR – the organization which works watching at the U.S. According to Mehtiyev, Azerbaijan had doubts about inviting observers from the ODIHR, but made the step on the recommendation of the U.S.

“However, the most interesting thing in the interview was inside information from Mekhtiyev that American officials “recommended” the Azerbaijani government to falsify results of voting for the opposition candidate Jamil Hasanly, as if he got 25% of votes,” the author writes.

As the article notes, the U.S. Department of State quickly responded to the interview by the head of the presidential administration and stated that his statements on “recommended” results of the elections were a lie. “The diplomatic fight could come to an end without serious consequences for bilateral relations. However, tension seems to reach the highest level. The Azerbaijani side didn’t ignore the disproof of the Americans and decided to state certain names,” the author writes and notes that the authorities focused on the American ambassador in Azerbaijan, Richard Morningstar.

“The figures mentioned by Ramiz Mekhtiyev were voiced by the U.S. ambassador at meetings with the government of Azerbaijan,” Elnur Aslanov, the head of the political analysis and information support of the presidential administration of Azerbaijan, confirmed in an interview to 1news.az.

Author reminds that a few days ahead of the incident, there was another unpleasant moment which involved Morningstar. According to the press service of the Defense Minister of Azerbaijan, the American ambassador stated at the meeting with the minister that “the elections have passed, and the winner is Ilham Aliyev” and actually he shut down all political speculations on recognition or non-recognition of the Azerbaijani elections by the U.S.

“However, the U.S. embassy decided to make a statement that the words by the ambassador were misinterpreted. This time the Azerbaijani side also resisted America and stated that it had an audio record of the talk and the press service of the ministry didn’t misinterpret the message,” the material says.

According to the author, the current anti-American rhetoric can be compared with the sharp reaction by Baku on active American lobbying of the Armenian-Turkish peacemaking in 2008 without consideration of the Nagorno-Karabakh topic.

“It is notable that in the context of worsened relations between Baku and Washington the mass media is again discussing the topic of whether Azerbaijan should take the European and Western course or the Eurasian course, i.e. a radical turn toward Russia,” the author says and notes that Vladimir Putin’s summer visit to Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani’s energy policy which prefers to prevent development of the project of Nabucco to avoid competition with the Russian pipeline of South Stream, deliberation of the question on association with the EU – all these factors give an opportunity for Baku to turn north.