AZG Armenian Daily #076, 28/04/2005

Neighbors

PACE ‘DEEPLY CONCERNED’ ABOUT POLITICAL SITUATION IN AZERBAIJAN

The Monitoring Committee at PACE expressed “deep concern” about “the current
political situation in Azerbaijan on the eve of the parliamentary elections
in Azerbaijan.”

According to Mediamax, the statement of the PACE Monitoring Committee said
that “there are not some basic preconditions in Azerbaijan, in particular,
the freedom of the speech and the right to hold peaceful rallies, that are
required for holding free and just elections, six months before the
parliamentary elections in that country.”

The PACE Monitoring Committee stated that “in fact, the Azeri opposition has
no opportunity to unfold propaganda of its ideas among the electors.” The
statement emphasized that “in Azerbaijan the independent journalists are
still being prosecuted, while after the murder of Elmar Huseynov, a
well-known journalist, they also fear for their lives.”

“The prospects of huge incomes that will flow into the country after the
construction of Baku-Tbilisi-Jehyan oil pipeline, as well as the atmosphere
of the large-scale corruption increase the risk of defending the power and
the money, sparing no efforts. On this background that can hardly be
compared with the situation in Georgia and Ukraine, the insinuation of the
term “revolution” can cause unprecedented consequences from both sides,” the
statement said.

The PACE Monitoring Committee emphasized that the coming elections in
Azerbaijan “will be a decisive test for democracy, especially on the
background of the violations fixed in the course of the presidential
elections in the October of 2003.”