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Yavuz Mildon: Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities will not draw up report on Azerbaijan in 2007-2008

06 June 2007 10:05 (UTC +04:00)

- Mr. Yavuz, what is your assessment of the activity of the Azerbaijani members of the Congress?
- Members of Azerbaijani delegation do not only touch upon the issues on this country, but also make speeches on human rights, democracy and other issues in the Council of Europe. I welcome it and highly appreciate the activity of Azerbaijani delegation. Azerbaijan did much to conform to the standards of the Council of Europe. It is not easy to implement the demands of the Council of Europe. One of the main commitments of the Council of Europe is the independence of local authorities. There was not a delegation at national level in Azerbaijan last year. There was a need for a national unity in order to become a member and vote. We allotted time to Azerbaijan by the end of 2007. Azerbaijani government fulfilled this commitment and established organized village, settlement and city municipality associations at national level. After that we welcomed Azerbaijani delegation. We continue cooperation with these organizations.
- Have you followed the six-month activity of these associations? What kind of assistance has been offered to them?
- We assist when it is needed. But it is impossible to follow the activity of these associations. Report on monitoring in Azerbaijan and other countries is drawn up. Sometimes, monitoring report and inspection report is substituted. In fact, monitoring report is the report of the unionâ€™s activity. New report on Azerbaijan is not expected to be drawn up this year and next year, but we continue our relations.
- Will the rapporteur on Azerbaijan continue his activity?
- Yes, French Senator Jean Clod Frikon is still a rapporteur, but he does not prepare monitoring on Azerbaijan. If Azerbaijani delegation demands it, we can conduct one more monitoring.
- Will three associations established in Azerbaijan be united in future?
- Every country has its regional peculiarities. This factor is connected with geographical, demographical, political and cultural conditions of countries. We never force countries to do anything. If uniting of three associations is useful for Azerbaijan, we would not object.
- Head of Armenian delegation offered cooperation of municipalities of the South Caucasus countries. Do you think Azerbaijan will accept this?
- I can not express position on behalf of Azerbaijani government. We always support cooperation. The position of the Council of Europe is that there is a political problem as Armenia has occupied some parts of Azerbaijan. I do not know what decision Azerbaijani government will pass. But if Baku agrees to this cooperation we will not protest to it.
- The number of members of delegations from different countries is different in the Congressâ€¦
- The number of delegation members is determined according to the countriesâ€™ population. Turkeyâ€™s population is 70 million, and the number of delegation members is 12. Though Franceâ€™s population is 6 million, its delegation is composed of 18. And this is connected with the role of these countries in the establishment of the Council of Europe. /APA/