Epress.am News from Armenia
A profile on the popular social networking site Twitter which allegedly belonged to Azerbaijan’s First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva has now been deemed fake, reports Azerbaijan State Telegraph Agency, citing a statement released by the First Lady’s protocol service.
The account (at @firstladyaze) appeared less than a day after some “less than favorable descriptions of Ilham Aliyev, president of the oil-rich former Soviet republic, as well as his wife, by US diplomats” appeared among the US diplomatic cables released by whistleblowers’ website WikiLeaks during the past week or two, writes Global Voices Regional Editor for the Caucasus Onnik Krikorian in a post on Global Voices.
The statement released by the First Lady’s protocol service published in English online yesterday described the creation of the false twitter profile and messaging on behalf of Mehriban Aliyeva as an attempt to harm the First Lady’s image.
“We state that informing the public about such groundless information is at the least [considered] irresponsible.
“On behalf of the Protocol Service of the First Lady of the Republic of Azerbaijan, we officially state that the name of First Lady of the Republic of Azerbaijan, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCO and ISESCO goodwill ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva has no concern with the social network mentioned,” reads the statement.