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Freedom House: Situation in Azerbaijan Continues to Deteriorate
The human rights organization Freedom House has published an annual report "Nations in Transit 2015", which analyzes the situation in 29 countries in various regions - from Central Europe to Central Asia, the Voice of America said.
Freedom House assesses the situation in each country, based on seven key indicators (the conditions of the electoral process, the position of civil society, the degree of independence of the media, the level of corruption, the quality control, etc.). The estimation is made on the seven-point scale, where 7 is the worst score.
According to the findings in the report, the rating of Estonia was 1.96 points, Latvia - 2.07, Lithuania - 2.36, Georgia - 4.64 (little progress in the field of local self-government), Ukraine - 4.75 (there have been improvements in four areas ) Moldova - 4.86, Armenia - 5.36, Kyrgyzstan - 5.93 (worsened the situation with civil society), Tajikistan - 6.39 (regression in two areas), Russia - 6.46 (negative developments occurred in four areas), Kazakhstan - 6.61, Belarus - 6.71, Azerbaijan - 6.75 (deterioration in the situation of civil society and the judiciary), Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - 6.93 points each.
As the report notes, authoritarian leaders paying lip service to democratic reforms, have systematized their repressive tactics and for the most part refused to conduct an inclusive policy. -02D-
Politics
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Armenia is not against the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, but does not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue now. "In the context of peace, we consider it possible to make a decision on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. When peace is an established fact, the existence of such a format may raise questions," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference today. "The whole question is about the timing, we need to understand how effectively and correctly to turn such topics into a subject of discussion right now," the Armenian Prime Minister added.
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He expressed his willingness to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the border between the two countries. "A meeting with Ilham Aliyev could take place at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. I am open to such a format," Pashinyan said at a press conference today. According to Pashinyan, Armenia recently presented another proposal for a peace treaty to Azerbaijan.
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On August 31, Azerbaijan observes a "day of silence" before the Sunday’s early parliamentary elections for the unicameral Milli Majlis. All electoral campaigning is prohibited 24 hours before the voting. The early elections were initiated by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party. This decision was motivated by the overlap of the scheduled elections in November with the global UN forum - the COP20 climate conference taking place in Baku.
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On August 30, at approximately 22:55, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant in Metsamor was disconnected from the country's power grid, as reported by the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. The shutdown was caused by a lightning strike, which triggered the plant's safety systems to switch the station to a safe shutdown mode. Currently, the plant's staff is working on restarting the facility.
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