Armenians continue to slander SOCAR

Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that Armenia, which admits its defeat in the Karabakh war, is ready for a civilized peaceful neighborhood with the people and state of Azerbaijan. As we know from the bitter experience of the past, the Armenian side can easily break any agreement, shamelessly lie and slander, use any excuse and means to disrupt any project in which Azerbaijan is participating.

In fact, there are many examples of rich Armenians from across the world, preferring to spend money on various smear campaigns against us, rather than starting or implementing a project to save their “historical homeland” from the economic abyss.

Irritated by SOCAR’s achievements

It is an old disease of Armenian propaganda to overshadow the activities of SOCAR, which has established a successful business far beyond the borders of Azerbaijan and has brought great benefits to our country from projects abroad. If only to recall the chaos they raised in Ukraine and Russia under the pretext of irrelevant issues. Armenians are particularly irritated by the activities of SOCAR in Switzerland, which is not surprising since working in a strategic field such as fuel in this country, occupying an important place in the world economy, means a significant increase in business reputation. And, of course, the energy field is the most profitable and reliable place to invest.

SOCAR, which has been operating in Switzerland since 2011, first bought shares in Ecco Schweiz GmbH and started wholesale and retail sales of oil products, as well as a number of projects related to the company. By the way, the headquarters of SOCAR Trading is located in Zurich.

SOCAR Energy Switzerland, which increased the number of filling stations in Switzerland to 200 in December of last year, recently launched the largest electric car charging station in the canton of Bern. Previously, the company’s 11 stations had high-speed electric charging stations, which is the largest network in the country. In March 2019, SOCAR, the winner of a tender held by the Swiss Federal Roads Authority (FEDRO) for the construction of a fast charging station for 20 electric cars in the rest areas on highways, was the only traditional refueling network operator among the winners.

Nonsense accusations

The Armenian Diaspora, unable to “sink” SOCAR through purely economic or legal means, periodically increases counter-propaganda about the company’s “national affiliation.” The last time an article was published on the website of Basler Zeitung was on December 3 last year, alleging that SOCAR was supposedly propagandizing against Armenia and that revenues from Swiss business were being used in the Karabakh war in violation of Switzerland’s neutral status. As an excuse for these allegations, posts on SOCAR’s official Facebook page during the Second Karabakh War were taken down. “SOCAR earns more in Switzerland than any other country in the world. Even more than in Azerbaijan. In 2019, the company achieved worldwide trade of about 48 billion francs, of which about 36 billion, or 76%, fell to Switzerland. These figures can be seen in SOCAR’s 2019 report.”

The Armenian Diaspora, which is trying to involve individual politicians from the country’s left wing in the anti-Azerbaijani propaganda, is also calling for a boycott of SOCAR products. However, the right-wing majority in Swiss politics has a positive attitude towards both SOCAR and our country as a whole. They emphasize that Armenians voiced the same calls during the war, and it is important not to draw attention to the good work of SOCAR.

A campaign of lies and slander

Thus, we can say that all this propaganda against SOCAR is based on lies and slander in full accordance with the “ancient Armenian traditions”. Just a month ago, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Switzerland Khanim Ibrahimova called on the government to condemn the Armenian lobby’s ugly propaganda against Azerbaijan, both during and after the war, during a meeting with Alex Kuprecht, the newly elected president of the upper house of parliament, the Council of Cantons.

Speaking about Armenia’s illegal activities on the occupied Azerbaijani lands, the ambassador also noted that Vartan Sirmakes, a Swiss businessman, head of Goldstar and Franck Muller watch brand, had been illegally exploiting gold and other mines in the occupied Azerbaijani lands for many years and that a criminal case had been opened against him by the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Stressing that Armenian businessmen have significant influence in various political and economic circles in Switzerland, the ambassador said that the Armenian Diaspora is trying to undermine the neutral status of this country. The diplomat also named the names of Swiss MPs under the influence of the Armenian lobby.

President of the Council of Cantons A. Kuprecht also assured the ambassador that Switzerland will always remain neutral and will not allow its national values to be violated by the Armenian lobby.

Of course, it is hard to believe that all these scandals will affect SOCAR’s activities and reputation in Switzerland. However, in the above-mentioned article, what raises questions is the fact that SOCAR officials did not touch upon the statements posted on Facebook about the Armenian army targeting oil infrastructure facilities in Azerbaijan.

Thus, Ibrahim Ahmadov, Deputy Chief of SOCAR’s Public Relations and Events Department, also noted that Armenia has damaged the energy security not only of Azerbaijan, but also of Europe. It’s interesting why it is not clear that Armenia intends to disrupt projects involving the world’s largest companies with these provocations?

Of course, we have long been accustomed to lies and slander directed at Azerbaijan. We have not tolerated such ugly attacks while implementing Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Southern Gas Corridor and other large-scale regional projects. In order to disrupt these projects, the Armenians used all means and tried to strike from different directions. But despite all this, today Azerbaijan is the economic leader of the region, and Armenia is left out of major projects. That is, no matter how hard they continue, Azerbaijan will develop and live more prosperously, and Armenia will disappear in the same crisis and debt vortex.