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Ulrich Bohner: We want mayor of Azerbaijanâ€™s capital to be elected

02 December 2008 16:03 (UTC +04:00)

Strasbourg. Fuad Gulubayli â€“ APA. â€œThe August happenings in Georgia shocked the Council of Europe. Our aim is to soften the consequences of the conflict,â€ Secretary General of Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities Ulrich Bohner told journalists, APAâ€™s Europe bureau reports. He underlined that to determine the real perpetrator of the conflict was not in the competence of the organization.
â€œWe want to eliminate the consequences of the conflict by establishing partnership relations between the conflict-affected municipalities and local authorities in other European countries,â€ he said.

Touching on the local self-governing bodies in Azerbaijan, Ulrich Bohner said good cooperation relations had been established with the country recently.
â€œWe have cooperated with Azerbaijan within the framework of the program financed by Norwegian government covering development of local governing associations in Azerbaijan. It was difficult to improve the concept of local authority in Azerbaijan. We made our contributions to this. Three associations were established in Azerbaijan and we are very glad. The associations function not only on paper, but also in practice,â€ he said.

Ulrich Bohner said they wanted the leadership of Azerbaijanâ€™s capital to be elected.
â€œThe first successful step in the South Caucasus was made in Georgia. Mayor of Tbilisi is elected. Work is being done in Armenia. I feel some hesitations in this field in Azerbaijan,â€ he said.
Ulrich Bohner said the Congress was not preparing any report or a document concerning Azerbaijan at the moment. He said the president of Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities planned to visit the South Caucasus countries, including Azerbaijan soon.