Veronika Kotek: "I hope sincerely that elections in Azerbaijan will be fair and transparent"

- How do you assess the election situation in Azerbaijan?

- We all hope that it will be good elections, fair and transparent. It is necessary for deepening the democratic reforms in Azerbaijan. The CE task is to assist the country in attaining it all and we are dealing with this issue in Azerbaijan now.

- How many observers from the Council of Europe will observe the upcoming elections?

- PACE will send 30 observers to Azerbaijan. It will be a short term mission and they will arrive in 2-3 days before elections.

- Don't you think the fact of imprisonment of mass media representatives is overshadowing the pre-election situation?

- It is a difficult question and I find it difficult to answer it.

- Anyway, an international conference, stressing the role of mass media in the election process, was held in Baku this year under direct organizational support of the CE Baku office and your participation.

- The fact that we focused our attention on mass media and hold a special policy in this direction proves our attention to this problem. I consider that there are spheres which require improvement. On the other hand, there are several questions, typical for other countries, for example, certain tensions in the activity of mass media in a definite period, especially during elections.

Certainly, I would like to stress improvement of raising professionalism of Azerbaijani journalists. It is important especially now when we are in the threshold of elections. For this reason, we are holding numerous trainings, seminars, conferences in an attempt to contribute the problem resolution.

- What do you expect from the upcoming elections, which will be the most democratic through the whole history of the present-day Azerbaijan, as powers promise?

- I think that these elections will be interesting. I think these elections will promote strengthening of democracy in Azerbaijan. I sincerely hope that they will be held in free and transparent conditions.

/Day.Az/