Foreign

Home page

Foreign

U.S. Helsinki Commission holds hearing on Azerbaijan

30 July 2008 09:00 (UTC +04:00)

Remembering his June trip to the South Caucasus, David Kramer said the United States works with the OSCE, European Union, and Council of Europe to promote democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia. He called Azerbaijan a friend of the United States.
â€œAzerbaijan is situated in a tough and strategically important neighborhood. If it enacts meaningful political reform, its location and abundant resources give it tremendous potential to serve as a model for aspiring democracies. We have major interests in Azerbaijan in three equally important areas: democratic and economic reform, energy diversification, and security cooperation. On security, Azerbaijan has made important troop contributions to international efforts in Iraq and Kosovo, and provides an air corridor that is crucial to supporting U.S. and NATO operations in Afghanistan,â€ he said.
David Kramer also spoke about the dialogue on democratization held with Azerbaijan.
â€œI was able to discuss the concerns about the state of democracy and the protection of human rights in Azerbaijan during my discussions with President Aliyev and other officials. I addressed five key areas: political processes, with a focus on the October presidential election; media freedom; protection of human rights; rule of law, including combating corruption; and an empowered and educated civil society,â€ he said.
â€œAs I stressed to senior Azerbaijani officials, the October presidential election presents an important opportunity for the government to demonstrate its commitment to democratic reform. A key theme in my discussions was that the pre-election environment is as important, if not more important, to the integrity of the electoral process as is the conduct of election-day itself, including the vote count and regional and national tabulation. The pre-election environment must be conducive to a level playing field â€“ particularly with respect to freedom to organize political parties, election campaigns, or interest groups; freedom of the media, assembly and association; voter registration; appointments to elections commissions; and election grievance processes,â€ he underlined.
Alcee L. Hastings, Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission), Azerbaijanâ€™s ambassador to the US Yashar Aliyev, representative of Freedom House Chris Walker also attended the hearings. Following David Kramerâ€™s speech, Yashar Aliyev said Azerbaijan is committed to democracy and actively cooperates with the international community for this. The ambassador said that Azerbaijan will do its best to hold democratic elections. Chris Walker noted a number of negative factors that may impede holding free elections.