BAKU. December 27, 2010: A group of Azerbaijani political emigrants and representatives of the opposition intelligentsia in Europe have founded an Organization European Azerbaijanis for Democracy (EUROAD).

Elnur Majidli, one of the founders of EUROAD, representing the Azeri Diaspora in France, said EUROAD’s goal is consolidation of democratic minded Azeris in Europe, delivering objective information about the political processes in Azerbaijan, following the fulfillment of the obligations of Baku before the European structures, promoting democracy and freedom of speech in Azerbaijan, and contribution to the fair settlement of Garabagh conflict.

 EUROAD offers cooperation with international organizations, including the international non-government organizations, focusing on the issues of democratization and human rights.

 The constitutive assembly of EUROAD will take place in Strasbourg in January 2011.

The honorable president of the organization is the former head of the Azerbaijani "Radio Liberty" service Mirza Khazar.

The Board includes coordinators for different countries and regions:

Elnur Medjidli (France), Fikret Huseynli (Benelux), Gurban Alekperov (Western Europe), Gulli Jahangir (Scandinavian countries), Habib Muntazir (Abdullayev - Germany), Isa Yusibov (Netherlands), Murad Hasanli (Great Britain), Turgut Gambar (Azerbaijan) and Vafa Jafarova (Turkey) (Turan).

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has conveyed her regret to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev over leaked US diplomatic cables that compared him to a mafia boss from "The Godfather" films.

In her telephone call on Wednesday, Clinton "reiterated to President Aliyev that the US relationship with Azerbaijan remains strong," Clinton spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

"And she took the opportunity to convey her regret for the WikiLeaks disclosures," he added.

When asked what Aliyev's response was to her expression of regret for the cables leaked by the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, Crowley replied: "He simply indicated that he did not think that alleged cables would affect our long-term relationship."

Crowley said "Azerbaijan remains a key partner of the United States," something the secretary also stressed when she visited Baku last July.

Azerbaijan works with the United States as a member of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition in Afghanistan and also cooperates on counter-terrorism, he said.

One of the leaked memos suggested that Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar Aliyev as president of ex-Soviet Azerbaijan in 2003, had become "increasingly authoritarian" at home while conducting a more pragmatic foreign policy.

"This divergence of approaches... has led some observers to compare the Aliyevs with the fictional 'Corleones' of Godfather fame," said the memo dated September 2009 and published by WikiLeaks.

The memo alleged the Azerbaijani president had created an elaborate patronage network and "strong armed" opponents, and thus "the Aliyev administration has developed an 'organized crime' image in some quarters, leading some analysts to see Ilham Aliyev at times in a mafia-like role."

Aliyev's office has described the release of the cables by WikiLeaks as an "open provocation." It also denied that the he had made statements to a US diplomat questioning the authority of the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev.

"The thoughts and opinions attributed by the website to the president of the Azerbaijani Republic Ilham Aliyev absolutely do not reflect reality and are absolutely unfounded," the president's press office said in a written statement.