Foreign

According to the accredited correspondent of APA to the PACE on the eve of the 10 th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s membership in the Council of Europe, in a country of great importance attaches to the forthcoming parliamentary elections. The paper notes the importance of increasing the role of parliament as compared with the executive branch. The Government of Azerbaijan will create all the conditions recommended for the upcoming November 2010 elections in accordance with European standards. Co-Rapporteurs called on all parties in Azerbaijan actively to take part in these elections.

In a report also was touched upon issue on the media and journalists. Co-Rapporteurs called on Azerbaijan to cancel the article of the law that criminalize libel.

Andreas Herkel and Debono Grekh welcomed the readiness of Azerbaijan to work with Council of Europe. The co-rapporteurs noted that the Council of Europe in these matters and in future will continue to provide assistance to Azerbaijan. CE will provide full support in creating an environment of fair and transparent elections in Azerbaijan within the proposed action plan for elections.

A. Herkel noted that his co-rapporteur of the mission is over, and he expressed appreciation to Azerbaijani people with whom he worked. "First and foremost I want to note that during those 6 years I have accumulated a great experience and I love this country. I am often asked how I was pleased with the results carried out over these years of work? I wish that it would be in Azerbaijan were even greater achievements in the field of democracy, human rights, pluralism of opinions. Along with this, I must say who found a place to report positive moments. In particular, was ordered by Azerbaijani President was declared an amnesty, pardon, marked progress towards the holding of fair elections, by the Venice Commission amended the Electoral Code. However, on other issues stated delay.

The other co-rapporteur Joseph Debono Grekh reported that he is working on Azeraijan only 6 months and twice visited Azerbaijan and held a number of important meetings. "CE is doing very useful work for the Azerbaijani people. Azerbaijan is not a very long time is a member of the Council of Europe, and it would be wrong to expect the full democratization of the country. At the same time with the Council of Europe in Azerbaijan noted positive changes on several fronts. The Azeri people are very hospitable and friendly people and we believe in democracy in this country", He said.

British deputy Michael Hancock noted that he sees Azerbaijan’s future positively and told that there is democracy in Azerbaijan. "There is democracy in Azerbaijan. Therefore, the Azerbaijani people voted for the current government. In this country there is no strong opposition, which refused to participate in the elections. The Government of Azerbaijan will continue to cooperate with the Council of Europe. In this direction is the political will of the authorities of Azerbaijan"he said.

Head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Samad Seidov, members Gultakin Hajibeyli, Rafael Huseynov, Ganira Pashayeva made speech at the meeting. Pashayeva was forced to answer unfounded claims against Azerbaijan by Armenian and French deputies. So the French deputy Rene Ruka tried to justify the trip the French deputies in Nagorno-Karabakh and criticized the response to this the Azerbaijani government.

Ganira Pashayeva evaluated these actions of the French deputies as disrespectful to Azerbaijan. France, like other States recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and Pashayeva told to French deputy to respect France national official position.

Deputies that made speech at meeting told that it is important to pay more attention parliamentary election that to be hold in Azerbaijan on November. It was also noted that there are still problems with gender equality, very few women are represented in state institutions, there are no women ministers in the government.

Most parliamentarians praised the development of democracy in Azerbaijan. Co-rapporteurs said that the next report will focus on the implementation of commitments by Azerbaijan to the CoE.

This report will be prepared after the legislative elections and submitted to the PACE session in 2011.

After a number of amendments the resolution was voted and the document was accepted by majority of 46 votes only 1 member voted against, the report was adopted.

After the meeting, Samad Seyidov told reporters that the meeting was so important. "Because each opinion was important for Azerbaijan. Once more we saw that different peoples make different speech at PACE. But this meeting has shown that a growing number of people who objectively analyze and assess the ongoing processes in Azerbaijan. These processes in Azerbaijan can not be keeping away from ettention. You’ve seen a reaction to the claim of the meeting of Armenian deputies. This means that no longer possible to accuse Azerbaijan false facts. Today’s debate showed that Azerbaijan is on the right track. Our partnership with CE built in the right direction. We must accept and draw conclusions from objective criticism and move forward. And the biased criticism to give a sharp reaction. Our main objective is to bring to the world community the truth about Azerbaijan", he said.

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