PACE co-rapporteur pleased with trip to Azerbaijan

Martinez Kassan, the co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan of the CE Parliamentary Assembly’s (PACE) monitoring committee, held a news conference at the Greek embassy in Baku on Friday. The co-rapporteur expressed his satisfaction with the current visit to Azerbaijan, though he noted some faults. Kassan said he had traveled to the Northern regions of the country, where he had met with ethnic minorities, stressing normal relations between them and the government. Nevertheless, the visitor regretted over the activities of municipalities.
Kassan confirmed certain progress in the sphere of media for the last two years, adding that the situation was still to be improved. As to pressures on opposition-minded media, the co-rapporteur said he had done 'his best' in this connection and asked the Ministry of Justice to maintain the freedom of speech until the forthcoming presidential elections.
He told the conference that now he was most concerned about the upcoming elections in Azerbaijan. The co-rapporteur considered just conduct of elections, preparing the Electoral Code, forming the Central Election Commission, establishing dialogue between the opposition and the government to be the main grounds for the elections.
"The Azerbaijani government knows that we have been following its conduct since today. It is two years that Azerbaijan has been admitted to  the Council of Europe and  that is why, we will not show mild attitude towards the elections" he said. Kassan noted that Azerbaijan would create just conditions for the elections. He described a new model of the Central Election Commission as expedient for this purpose.
Trip to regions
PACE co-rapporteur traveled to Saki District on Wednesday. He met representatives of Saki District authorities, sections of political parties, and NGOs to study the social-political situation.
Kassan also visited Zaqatala District to get acquainted with the conditions of ethnic minorities and find out whether they face religious problems.