Public hearings on the topic: Azerbaijan-EU Agreement

Baku / 18.04.19 / Turan: Until a partnership agreement is signed between the European Union and Azerbaijan, there should be no political prisoners in the country, freedom of the press, assembly, restoration of civil society institutions, and independence of the courts. In the future agreement, the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan should be recognized, as was done in the EU agreements with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.

These were the results of today's discussions initiated by the Movement for Democracy and Prosperity.

The debate was attended by representatives of opposition parties, civil society and the media, as well as foreign diplomatic missions.

The participants in the discussions unequivocally spoke in favor of signing an agreement between Azerbaijan and the European Union, however, the draft document must first be presented to the public of Azerbaijan.

"The content of the agreement is unknown to us. We believe that the draft document reflects the interests of the authorities, it was compiled secretly, the public is not informed about its content, "the expert-international Kagani Jafarli said.

"The future agreement implies the integration of Azerbaijan into Europe. European languages - English, French, German, Italian, etc. However, today there are 340 Russian schools in Azerbaijan. We must ask the government whether we have English, French, German and other European schools? The authorities have chosen the path of integration with Russia, propagating its values," the expert noted.

The leader of the People"s Party, ex-Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Panah Huseyn said that the text of the document should be made public to the public before it is signed. "It should reflect the territorial integrity of the country," he stressed.

The leader of the REAL party, Ilgar Mamedov, was sharper, noting that the current government of Azerbaijan is not able to sign a document reflecting the interests of the people.

"We want the government of Ilham Aliyev to leave during the elections. Power must completely change. The agreement with the European Union should be signed by the new government," he said.

According to him, certain political forces of Azerbaijan oppose the development of relations between the EU and Azerbaijan.

A member of the National Council, Gultakin Hajibeyli, believes that Azerbaijan is expected to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union.

"The National Council supports the position of the European Parliament that the provisions of the future document should not be below the standards of the European Union. Brussels should not sign agreements with a country with dozens of political prisoners, a defeated civil society, harassment and destroyed the press, lawyers are expelled, there is no freedom of assembly and expression, "she said.

The head of the National Council, Jamil Hasanly, said that the Azerbaijani government wants to limit the Azerbaijani authorities and it has been forced to sign some kind of agreement. At the same time, they want the document to guarantee the preservation of the family clan regime in Azerbaijan.

The European Union should demand from Baku to solve the problems of political prisoners, to stop the persecution of dissidents, to put an end to the torturers in the country, Hasanli said.

The PFPA leader Ali Kerimli also spoke in favor of signing an agreement that would reflect not the interests of the government, but the Azerbaijani society.

"We once already got burnt when we signed an agreement with the Council of Europe. It turned out that Azerbaijan caused damage to European values. These are not only the consequences of Caviar Diplomacy. We do not want re-imitation and support the position of the European Parliament," he said.

In conclusion, the participants adopted a resolution which stated that the future agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan should reflect European values, ensure fundamental freedoms and rights, including fair courts, and a system of human rights protection.

A month before signing, the document should be made public and submitted for public discussion.-03B-