Azerbaijan holds hearings on human rights in US

"There is a race problem in the U.S.,” MP Zahid Oruc said, adding that the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president "hasn’t eliminated the racial discrimination in the United States."

Another lawmaker, Azay Guliyev, asked why U.S. think tanks are criticizing Azerbaijan given that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility is still open, according to press reports.

He also raised the civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri following the shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American, by a police officer.

Guliyev said the hearing was held because of U.S. criticism leveled at Azerbaijan.

"We decided to hold these hearings and study the situation of human rights in the U.S. in an effort to find out on what grounds they are making such statements about Azerbaijan."