Baku puzzled by U.S. State Dept assessment of security in Azerbaijan - Foreign Ministry
BAKU. Jan 11 (Interfax) - Security in Azerbaijan is under the government's full control, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev said.
"Security and the present situation in the country, except for the territories under Armenian occupation, are under the full control of the Azerbaijani government," Hajiyev said in a statement in response to the United States State Department's decision to include Azerbaijan in the second category of countries in terms of security threats.
On the whole, "the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan is puzzled by this assessment of the U.S. Department of State," he said.
The U.S. assigns a travel-hazard rating of between one and four for every country. The Department of State included Azerbaijan in the second category of countries, where visitors are advised to exercise increased caution. It also called on U.S. citizens to refrain from visiting Nagorno-Karabakh.