U.S. AMBASADOR TO OSCE: “U.S. OBSERVES ELECTIONS PROCESSES AZERBAIJAN WITH GREAT INTEREST”
Today, Azerbaijan
Sept 6 2005
The United States is watching the election process in Azerbaijan with
great interest.
We appreciate the progress made to date.
As we have stated on many occasions, the United States strongly
supports free and fair elections in Azerbaijan, U.S. Ambassador
to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
Julie Finley briefly outlined basic U.S. policies on several issues
relating to the South Caucasus at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent
Council in Vienna, Austria, September 1.
Secretary of State Rice spoke with President Aliyev about this just
last week. We look for guarantees that those who campaign will be free
of harassment and intimidation. We look for guarantees that parties
and candidates will have equal access to the media. And we look for
guarantees, that in the post-election period, the voters of Azerbaijan
will see the honest results of their voting – in the cities, towns,
and villages, she said.
The United States supports Georgia’s territorial integrity and
continues to support peaceful settlement of the South Ossetia and
Abkhazia conflicts in Georgia, she said. The United States remain
concerned that the situation in South Ossetia is tense.
“We call on both sides to fulfill previous agreements to bring greater
stability to the situation on the ground. We urge both sides to engage
in a direct dialogue to restore confidence and begin discussions toward
the resolution of the status of South Ossetia within Georgia. We
believe that economic cooperation and confidence-building measures
have an important role to play and are encouraged by progress in
this regard. We urge the international community, and particularly
the Russian Federation, to lend support to such efforts,” she stressed.
Finley noted that the United States supports fully the continuing
work of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to facilitate a peaceful, negotiated
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In her recent phone calls
with Armenian President Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Aliyev,
Secretary Rice encouraged each president to make the compromises
necessary to reach such a settlement. The Minsk Group Co-Chairs have
indicated a desire to brief the full Minsk Group in the near future
on the progress of the negotiation process.