Head of Council of Europe Committee of Ministers considers it important to continue dialogue with Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan has benefited from the support of the Council of Europe during the implementation of reforms, so Strasbourg should continue to encourage Azerbaijan to do so. This was stated by Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden on 29 January, speaking at the winter session of PACE in Strasbourg.

One of the deputies asked him a question: Azerbaijan openly ignores PACE principles and its own commitments. The number of political prisoners is growing, and repressions against civil society, media and other critics of the government continues to intensify.  What has Luxembourg, as Chair of the Committee of Ministers, done to make Azerbaijan respect PACE principles and its own commitments?

To this Frieden replied as follows: ‘I believe that one of the positive aspects of the Council of Europe is the channel to communicate with representatives of Azerbaijan, to exchange views, to show how we promote human rights and implement in our countries.’  He said it was important to keep these channels ‘open’.

‘We strongly advocate dialogue with the authorities of Azerbaijan, like any other country, and call on them to respect all the principles enshrined in the founding documents of the Council of Europe,’ Frieden said.