Council of Europe rapporteur pleased with Azeri local polls
Ekspress, Baku
22 Dec 04
A co-rapporteur of the Monitoring Group of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe has described the 17 December municipal
elections in Azerbaijan as “another step towards democracy”. In
his interview with Ekspress newspaper, he also called on Baku
“to seriously investigate irregularities in the elections and take
relevant steps”. The following is the text of Alakbar Raufoglu report
by Azerbaijani newspaper Ekspress on 22 December headlined “Gross does
not want us to call the Armenians occupiers” and subheaded “The PACE
Monitoring Group co-rapporteur is both satisfied and dissatisfied with
the municipal elections”. Subheadings have been inserted editorially:
“We have closely observed the municipal elections in
Azerbaijan. Generally, the voting both satisfied and dissatisfied
us. The major concerns were naturally about the identification of voter
lists, something that was noted during the previous elections. In any
case, Azerbaijan’s relevant authorities should have taken specific
measures in connection with the voter lists and fully resolved the
problem over the past time. But generally, we are fully satisfied with
both our visit and the elections,” the co-rapporteur of the Monitoring
Group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [MG PACE]
on Azerbaijan, Andreas Gross, said as he was commenting to Ekspress
on the results of his visit to Azerbaijan.
“Another step towards democracy”
He said that the municipal elections “can be described as another step
towards democracy in Azerbaijan”. At the same time, the PACE Monitoring
Group calls on Baku to “seriously investigate irregularities in the
elections and take relevant steps”.
“Anyhow, the fact that some opposition parties did not stand in
the race is food for thinking, its reasons should be investigated,
shortcomings should be found and, if necessary, political debates
should be held and the problem should be resolved altogether,”
Gross said.
Touching on the domestic political situation in Azerbaijan, the
co-rapporteur said that human rights, democracy, elections and the
freedom of the press “were seriously discussed” during his meetings
in Baku. “We were given specific promises, and mechanisms are being
prepared to keep them. Probably after that, we will be able to reveal
those promises in full details. I can only say that the mentioned
issues are in the constant spotlight of the PACE Monitoring Group,”
he said.
Final report to come next month
The PACE Monitoring Group rapporteurs can hardly accomplish their
mission shortly, since there is still much to be done, Gross said. “We
are working, becoming familiar with the country and making our
proposals. Therefore, we will pay many visits.”
The PACE Monitoring Group will issue its final report on the outcomes
of the municipal elections next month. The process is currently being
investigated “in full detail”, Gross said.
The Monitoring Group experts are expected to discuss their observations
at a session of a PACE sub-committee next week. After that, the
Monitoring Group will prepare a relevant report.
Call for concessions
The Nagornyy Karabakh problem was also discussed during Gross’s
current visit. It was connected to the hearings that will be held on
the mentioned issue at the forthcoming session of PACE. “The fact that
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict remains unresolved creates obstacles
to resolving other problems in the region,” the co-rapporteur said.
The extension of the negotiations on Karabakh “becomes a serious
obstacle” to the political and economic development in Azerbaijan, he
said. The Council of Europe can only express an independent opinion
and make a proposal on any problem. “As we mentioned last time,
we made some proposals on the issue, but nobody is listening to them.”
Stressing that preparatory seminars for the hearings on the Nagornyy
Karabakh settlement will be held at PACE, the co-rapporteur said that
he and his colleagues had presented the parties with their ideas on
a peaceful solution, “but they have not been officially discussed
yet since they are formal”.
Both parties to the conflict should make concessions for a successful
solution to the problem, Gross said. “It does not bring success
to the settlement process to search for an occupier or a victim,
on the contrary, it complicates the peace negotiations,” he said,
stressing that it is necessary for the parties to make concessions.
“This is the most important precondition for the existing
dialogue. I became familiar with the living conditions of Azerbaijani
refugees. They live in hard conditions and say that the conflict
should be resolved in any way. I think a conclusion should be made
from this concern by the refugees. It does not give credence to
Azerbaijan to harp on Armenia’s aggression in the peace process,
because it is impossible to bring up growing generations in the two
countries in the spirit of animosity against each other,” he said.
Gross said that since the Karabakh issue is a direct obligation of Baku
and Yerevan, the mission wants to investigate this problem closely.
Saying that the refugees are “a heavy burden for both parties”,
the European visitor noted that one does not have to put the whole
blame on the fact of occupation. “It would not be nice to make such
statements during the negotiations.”
As for the formats of the settlement process, Gross said that he
“does not want to go deep into details” and “is in favour of taking
facts as a basis” in solving the conflict.
The rapporteur also said that he intends to visit Nagornyy Karabakh,
become familiar with the internal situation there and investigate
official Baku’s accusations that it is used as a region for drug
trafficking. This visit will probably take place early next year.