Comments by the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan with regard to recent publications in the Bulgarian media

The Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan informs that the IT resources of the Embassy have been subject to hacker attacks. This incident is recent in a series of cyberattacks against the Republic of Azerbaijan, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its online resources.

The relevant authorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan are investigating this hack. Media outlets that are replicating groundless allegations with regard to this hacker attack as well as timing of this incident are of no coincidence and may indicate the origins of and masterminds behind this attack against the Republic of Azerbaijan. 

This hacker attack once again revealed the urgency of co-operation between States, international organisations and private industry in combating cybercrime, including by investigating and prosecuting such criminal offences at both domestic and international levels.  We expect that the Republic of Bulgaria as a host country and whose internet provider services have been used by the Embassy of Azerbaijan, will fully cooperate to this end.

With regard to press allegations on operations of the Silk Way airline of Azerbaijan, the Embassy resolutely rejects these speculations as baseless. The Silk Way airline is the leading freight logistics provider of Azerbaijan, which gained international reputation for its reliable, efficient and transparent operations worldwide in full compliance with relevant IATA/ICAO regulations. 

It is a well established international practice that air carriers of dangerous cargofollow arms control regimes and relevant IATA/ICAO regulations and diplomatic clearance by consignor and consignee countries as well as countries along the air route is obtained and detailed information on relevant cargo is provided through diplomatic channels.