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As it is reported in the Azerbaijani News Agency Turan Washington is concerned about the new amendments to the law on NGOs in Azerbaijan and about their impact on US-led programs in the country.

“U.S. diplomats over the past two months repeatedly urged President Aliyev to return the amendments to parliament, and work with experts to ensure that the laws governing NGO activities and their funding comport with their international obligations and commitments," Turan's correspondent was told by Washington’s official sources.

As it is reported in the article the State Department of U.S. hasn't yet issued any public statement on the matter, in the meantime diplomats and analysts off the record express their worry about the fact that the authorities of Azerbaijan want to silence independent critical voices by legislative restrictions.

"We are profoundly concerned about the recent amendments, which will have serious negative effects on the work of NGOs in the country, "Giorgi Gogia, Senior Researcher at HRW's Europe and Central Asia Division said.

According to him those amendments are a part of the government's coordinated effort to restrict work of civil society organizations, critical of the authorities. The amendments introduce new restrictions on the work of domestic and foreign NGOs and establish punitive fines, including suspension and dissolution of an NGO.

Gogia believes that those amendments to the legislation are intended to push civil society groups and activists to the margins of the law, leaving little space for exercising fundamental right of freedom of association.
Turan notes that the legislative amendments which further restrict the funding of NGOs were adopted by the parliament at the end of the last year and approved by the president of Azerbaijan at the end of this week.

Note that on 27th of January 2014 more than 100 non-governmental organization of Azerbaijan in connection with the legislative amendments relating to the operation of civil society organizations adopted by the Parliament signed a petition to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).