Azeri MP to Europe body dismisses criticism, promises fair municipal
elections

ANS TV, Baku
11 Oct 04

The head of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation at the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), MP Samad
Seyidov, in a 30-minute interview with the “Point of View” programme on
the Azerbaijani independent TV station ANS, welcomed a PACE resolution
complementing Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on releasing political
prisoners and the reforms he was implementing.

After a while the presenter pulled him up short, saying that the report
“contained a fair amount of criticism of commitments” that could have
been easily honoured by Azerbaijan and which were important not only
for the Council of Europe (CE) but for Azerbaijan, too.

Seyidov took on board some of the existing problems that were mentioned
but added that the Azerbaijani parliament had already endorsed setting
up public television, for example. He then changed tack saying that
“analysing Ilham Aliyev’s one-year period in office, his latest steps,
we see why the resolution is positive because within the shortest
period of time, he has taken such important steps that they should
indeed be assessed positively. As for criticism, this will never end”.

Seyidov praised the role of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation
at the PACE session, adding that the CE and Azerbaijan should work
closely on the implementation of laws. Seyidov said that some Armenian
proposals to amend the PACE rapporteurs’ report on finding a Karabakh
settlement should not be taken seriously but stressed the importance
of the report by Council of Europe Secretary-General Terry Davis on
the Karabakh conflict.

The MP said he thought that Azerbaijan has been honouring its
commitments to the Council of Europe and would soon complete them
successfully as they and the Karabakh settlement were interwoven.

Asked about Azerbaijan’s readiness to hold the upcoming municipal
elections in December so that they were in line with Council of Europe
standards, ahead of the January session of PACE where the issue will
be debated, Samadov said that “we should be very serious in how we
organize the municipal elections” to avoid providing those working
against us with “extra pretexts”. Highlighting the significance of the
elections, the MP said that this will give us an opportunity for the
“normal, fair resolution of the Karabakh and the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict”.

In reply to a question about whether the president would meet relevant
bodies coordinating their activities with those of international
organizations, the deputy said that the foreign policy issues were
being centralized and that the relevant state bodies had to come up
with specific proposals to coordinate their efforts.

The MP was upbeat about the Azerbaijani parliament’s interaction with
other parliaments, stressing that its activities should be transparent
and active without becoming a “hostage” to policies of others. He
rejected proposals by international organizations for holding joint
meetings between the three South Caucasus republics and separatist
bodies operating in these republics.