All the participants outside the hotel in Sarajevo

The Saturday began with two lectures on the basics of campaigning and how to build a political brand. During the afternoon the young candidates had a workshop in rhetoric, directed by Kristoffer Tamsons. Meanwhile, the campaign managers had a workshop on how to plan an election campaign. This workshop was led by Oskar Öholm and Sebastian Tham.

During Sunday morning Oskar Öholm, former general secretary of the Moderate Party Youth League, held a session on the importance of a strong Youth League. Meanwhile Sebastian Tham had an exercise in how to use and handle the media. The conference ended with Branislav Borenović, vice president of PDP, who spoke about important questions for the upcoming election.

The opposition stated their plan is to strip incumbent President Victor Yanukovych of his leadership and establish a state where “democracy and the rule of law will prevail.”

The opposition agreed on five steps for the next months:

1. To approve the proposed draft plan action of the united opposition, entitled “A fair state, an honest government, decent life,” as the basis for holding a national public debate.
2. Arrange a series of conferences, roundtable meetings, and public hearings with civil society representatives, experts, and civil society organisations from May to July.
3. To hold oppositional forums across Ukraine in order to discuss and complete the draft action plan and submit an improved version to the next national forum of the united opposition.
4. To unite and organise all the political forces of the united opposition in order to start a determined push against ‘current criminal occupational government’.
5. To formulate and to announce the final draft version during the next national Ukrainian forum of the Ukraine opposition.

NIPA:s chairman Yusif Baghirzade and secretary general Arzukhan Ali-Zada with Gunnar Hökmark, member of the European Parliament

During the visit in Brussels, the Azeri politicians met with a handful of prominent members of the European Parliament from the EPP-group, as Mrs. Corien Wortmann-Kool, vice president of the EPP and Mr. Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, vice chairman of Euronest. Meetings were also held at the European Commission and at the EPP-office.

The delegation from NIPA consisted of Mr. Yusif Baghirzade, party chairman, Mr. Arzukhan Ali-Zada, general secretary, Mr. Elshan Mustafayev, international secretary and Ms. Ilhama Aliyeva from the party’s international office.

4-6 May 2012, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation organized a workshop about political campaigning. The target group was representatives from the UNM Youth League and the conference took place in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Speakers were Gustaf Stenlund, press secretary at the Swedish Commission of Health Services, Henrik Kelfve, head of public communication at Swedavia and Veiko Lukmann, advisor to the recently resigned Estonian defence minister.

The young politicians learned about how to formulate and communicate a political message as well as how to address the voters. Included in the seminars were practical tasks and cases where the participants had to form their own political campaign and convince their audience. The future politicians participated whole heartedly and shared a great deal of enthusiasm during the proceedings.

Oleg Buklemishev.

Vladimir Putin has for a third time taken office as Russian president. Though, he is coming back to a country in a very different mood, says Oleg Buklemishev, Economist and Advisor to opposition leader Mikhail Kasyanov. “The scene of the inauguration car passing through an empty city is quite symbolic”. Buklemishev is convinced that the authorities’ violence towards mostly peaceful protesters shows that “intolerance towards dissent will only increase during new Putin term. Instead of bridging the national divide he has clearly chosen to polarize society even more”. Her believes that even the “weakest” of Medvedev’s “political reform” can be revoked in this environment

There already exists a critical mass of young people eager to change the regime by non-constitutional though dominantly peaceful means. Oleg Buklemishev argues that this makes the regime extremely uncomfortable. And that nobody of the leaders can appear in public without fear of being booed.

“Police on Sunday used batons and charging tactics to break up an anti-Putin rally in the centre of Moscow which had been sanctioned by the authorities but had descended into chaos,” reported British The Telegraph on the day of Putin’s inauguration. The opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on his home page nemtsov.ru wrote that “according to the Interior Ministry in Moscow 436 people were arrested”, though the opposition claims that the list is much longer: about 650 detainees. Three key leaders of the protest movement were arrested: anti-corruption campaigner and blogger Alexei Navalny, liberal politician Boris Nemtsov and left-wing leader Sergei Udaltsov. Nemtsov was soon released after being sentenced to a fine.

Moscow City Hall had given approval for 5,000 participants to take part in the march and rally on Sunday. Moscow Times reported that the police said 8,000 demonstrators passed through the metal detectors set up at the start of the march route, “but people could reach Bolotnaya Ploshchad via an alternative route. Organizers estimated that there were as many as 100,000 protesters on hand.

Oleg Buklemishev is convinced that the issue of legitimacy is central to the future political dynamics in Russia. “Lacking domestic legitimacy Putin will actively seek it abroad. Unfortunately, several foreign leaders are not prepared to discontinue kisses-and-hugs relations with Putin and it will ultimately damage Russia’s democratic prospects”, says Buklemishev.

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In General about Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is to a large extent surrounded by mountains.

The CIA World Fact Book provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities – including Azerbaijan.

Read the articles

The British news agency BBC is publishing a country profile of Azerbaijan, including links to Azerbaijani media.

Read the presentation

The US embassy in Baku presents  Azerbaijan on human rights in 2010 as part of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices that are submitted annually by the U.S. Department of State to the U.S. Congress.

Read about human rights

The US Department of State and its Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs is publishing extensive background notes on Azerbaijan.

Read the notes

Economy and Politics

Milli Majlis is the Parliament in Baku.

You can read the World Bank’s latest statistics and estimations for Azerbaijan on its home page.

The link is 

The International Monetary Fund is also working in Azerbaijan:

Read a general IMF- text about Azerbaijan

In addition read an IMF-report on economic growth

In regards to the future of Azerbaijan the relations between the EU and Azerbaijan is certainly of interest. Today the EU supports Azerbaijan across a wide-range of sectors, including energy, agriculture and good governance.

Read about the cooperation betweenthe  EU and Azerbaijan

In the east Azerbaijan is bordered to the Caspian Sea.

In addition read about EU:s Eastern Partnership

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has been organizing election observation missions to Azerbaijan. Read reports from elections in 2003, 2003, 2008 and 2010.

Read about OCSE:s efforts in Azerbaijan

Gunnar Hökmark, Member of European Parliament and chairman of the Policy Committee of Euronests Parliamentary Assembly, is concerned about the developments in Azerbaijan. Read about his visions and views in regards to Azerbaijan:

Read on Gunnar Hökmars blog about Azerbaijan

The European Stability Initiative writes about repression in Azerbaijan. In this article you find a number of links to reliable sources

Visit the ESI home page to read about Azerbaijan

Amnesty International has since many years been reporting about violence and suppression of freedom of speech etc.  At the end of March 2012 the organization reported about three youth activists that had  been beaten in police custody. They were arrested while performing at a peaceful protest in the capital, Baku, after one of them swore about the President’s family.

 Freedom House depicts Azerbaijan as “not free”.

Read the Freedom Index 2011

Many have lost their lives in the conflicts in the region.

reedom House is among other things keeping scores on political pressure from Azerbaijani authorities against individuals and families, saying that “politically motivated charges, underscores the growing use of financial and psychological pressure to silence dissidents”.

Read the article by Freedom House

Bloggers critical to the regime might have a hard time in today’s Azerbailjan.

Read the blog by Emin Milli 

Read the blogs by Ali Novruzov Blog 1 and  Blog 2 

Since 2003, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation is cooperating with the National Independence Party of Azerbaijan (NIPA). The Foundation is organizing seminars for regional leaders as well as for younger politicians and women on the themes of democratization and practical political work.

Visit the home page of NIPA 

Media

Conditions for journalists are hostile and arbitrary.

Conditions for journalists and regime critics in Azerbaijan are perceived as hostile and arbitrary. Detention and harassment occur. Therefore, self-censorship is often practiced in newspapers, radio and TV channels. The actual censorship was abolished at the end of the 1990s. Today the country is ranked number 152 out of 173 countries in Reporters without Border’s Freedom Index (2010-2011).

Read the Freedom Index

Azerbaijan can be found in spot no 172 out of 197 countries ranked in the Freedom House Press Freedom Index for 2012. Azerbaijan shares this position with Russia and Zimbabwe. Compared with 2011, the conditions and opportunities for journalists to work freely have deteriorated slightly. In 2011, Azerbaijan was found  in place no 171.

Read the Press Freedom Index by Freedom House (May 1, 2012)

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is reporting in 21 countries where “a free press is banned by the government or not fully established. We provide what many people cannot get locally: uncensored news, responsible discussion, and open debate”. The radio channel is funded by the US Congress. Radio Liberty is present in Azerbaijan and one of the main critics of the Aliyev regime.

Visit the home page of Radio Liberty in Azerbaijan

News.az deliver online news to the region seven days a week.  The agency is reporting rather freely.

Visit the news page by News.az

Acadliq Newspaper is a regime critical newspaper which is also translated into English.

Read the oppositional newspaper

The European Stability Initiative has published a report “Generation Facebook in Baku. Adnan, Emin and the Future of Dissent in Azerbaijan”. ESI claims that “so far European governments, the US and international organisations – particularly the Council of Europe, Europe’s oldest intergovernmental club of democracies – have failed to address the increasing repression in Azerbaijan …”. Though a young generation of Internet savvy Azerbaijanis has managed to rattle the regime. They, reports ESI, “believe in the right of democratic protest and freedom of speech – and that there are others who fear both”. Read the report:

Read the report about Facebook in Azerbaijan

A sign on the wall at Radio Liberty in Baku.

Azerbaijani journalist Xadija Ismayilova (interviewed in the JHS report) was threatened that intimate pictures of her and her boyfriend would be published if she did not stop her investigations. She did not follow this advice and a video was published on a mirror home page of the oppositional Musavat Party. Following these events the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan, among other, has issued a statement about the intimidation campaign against Azerbaijani Journalist Khadija Ismayilova.

Read the statement by the EU

One of the best reports on media freedom in Azerbaijan is by Human Rights Watch, titled Beaten, Blacklisted and Behind Bars: The Vanishing Space for Freedom of Expression in Azerbaijan (October 2010). Human Right Watch is reporting about human rights in general in Azerbaijan claiming that the atmosphere for journalists “is hostile, and government officials continue to initiate criminal and civil libel cases against journalists”. Adding that the government tightened restrictions on religious groups, and banned women from wearing head scarves in schools and universities, leading thousands to drop out. Read more at:

Read the report

Read what Human Right Watch writes about Azerbaijan  And see a film that the organization published in the spring of 2012.

The Conflict on Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh Territory is inside Azerbaijan, but population is mainly ethnic Armenian.

The dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh is rooted in history. On various grounds Azerbaijan and Armenia believe that they are entitled to the same area. Each year 20-30 people are killed on the line of contact between the two countries. (JHS Report). Hundreds of thousands are denied the right to return to their homes, regain their land and visit the graves of relative’s.

There are roughly 600,000 internally displaced persons (IDP’s) in Azerbaijan.  In a report the International Crisis Group with HQ in Brussels notes that ”after twenty years, one could assume that the main problems of displacement from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have been resolved, but this would be wrong”.

Read the report about IDP’s

EurasiaNet.org provides information and analysis about political, economic, environmental and social developments in Azerbaijan. The organization is based in New York and operated by the Central Eurasia Project of the Open Society Institute. Read for example about marriages at an early age,  a well as news in general and columns.

Read about what EurasiaNet.org writes about Azerbaijan 

Eurovision Song Contest

Many Azerians hope that visitors to Eurovision Song Contest will learn about all aspects of life in Azerbaijan.

Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Baku at the end of May, 2012.

Visit the official home page of the Eurovision Song Contest

In connection with the Eurovision Song Contest News.az as well as the news agency APA has reported about president Aliyev’s comments in regards to reports abroad about Azerbaijan: “There are countries where dirty, defamatory articles about Azerbaijan are published week in and week out and even day in and day out. This is a coordinated policy, of course … Those who want to accuse us of anti-democratic steps, let’s look at what is happening in their countries. Every day protesters there are beaten, seriously injured and hundreds of demonstrators are arrested.”

Read about the other side of the coin …

The Azeri newspaper Azadliq presents a story about how hundreds of people have been forced out of their homes to make way for a new concert hall being built in the capital Baku prior to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Read the text

The Economist is commenting the Eurovision Song Contest. The magazine is noting that some local activists want to highlight the country’s deteriorating human-right record:

Read the comment

Radio Liberty has sent up an independent web site to cover the Eurovision Song Contest

Visit Radio Liberty’s Eurovision Song Contest page

On May 8, 2012 BBC published an interview with journalist Idrak Abbasov from his hospital bed. Abbasov was filming protesters when he was attacked by guards working for a state-owned company. BBC writes that Azerbaijan “targets activists” as it prepares to host Eurovision”.

Read the interview 

The presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) Vojislav Kostunica won 7.44 percent of the votes, while the candidate of the United Regions of Serbia (URS) Zoran Stankovic scored 6.56%, reported the Serbian government on its home page srbija.gov.rs. The Hajlmarson Foundation is cooperation with both these parties.

About 60 percent of the eligible Serbs voted on May 6. The best results in the parliamentary elections were achieved by the SNS-led coalition (SNS together with Movement Serbian Strength, Socialist Movement and New Serbia) that got the support of over 29 percent of the votes, or 73 seats in the Serbian parliament – out of 250 seats in total.

The DS-led coalition (DS and the Social Democratic Party, League of Social Democrats of Vojvodin, Serbian Renewal Movement and some minor fractions) receive almost 27 percent of the votes, or a total of 67 seats. The third runner up was the SPS-led coalition (Socialist Party of Serbia) with almost 18 percent of votes, equivalent to 44 seats in parliament.

The fourth-ranked is the DSS-ist which won 7 percent or 21 mandates, while the URS-list got 5.51 percent of the votes or 16 seats.

A possible government alliance might be created by the Democratic Party with its leader Boris Tadić, in cooperation with the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

In regards to elections held in Kosovo and Metohija, about 85 of 90 polling stations had been counted for, reported b92.net. In the presidential elections Tomislav Nikolić won some 21 percent of the votes, Vojislav Konštunica of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and cooperation partner of the Hjalmarson Foundation, collected almost 21 percent of the votes, Ivica Dači of the SPS-PUPS-JS coalition got some 20 percent, while Boris Tadić (DS) ended up with less than 9 percent.

 Read more at b92.net

Read more at Balkan Insight

Read the home page of the Serbian government

Copyright Ilya Yashin (Solidarnost)

Today Vladimir Putin will for a third time take office as Russian president. At the same time he is facing protests against his command over political affairs in Russia.

“Police on Sunday used batons and charging tactics to break up an anti-Putin rally in the centre of Moscow which had been sanctioned by the authorities but had descended into chaos,” reported British The Telegraph. The opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on his home page nemtsov.ru wrote that “according to the Interior Ministry in Moscow 436 people were arrested”, though the opposition claims that the list is much longer: about 650 detainees. Three key leaders of the protest movement were arrested: anti-corruption campaigner and blogger Alexei Navalny, liberal politician Boris Nemtsov and left-wing leader Sergei Udaltsov. Nemtsov was released after being sentenced to pay a fine. The other two opposition leaders are still imprisoned.

The Moscow Times reported that seventeen people needed medical care for injuries sustained during the event, a hospital source told Interfax. “The violence came at the end of a day of protests in several cities against Putin, who will be sworn in at a lavish ceremony inside the Kremlin at which the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, will bless him” wrote Reuters.

Moscow City Hall had given approval for 5,000 participants to take part in the march and rally on Sunday. Moscow Times reported that the police said 8,000 demonstrators passed through the metal detectors set up at the start of the march route, “but people could reach Bolotnaya Ploshchad via an alternative route. Organizers estimated that there were as many as 100,000 protesters on hand. Udaltsov said, on air to Kommersant-FM radio from the Yakimanka police station, that organizers had not expected such a high turnout”.

The Croatian President Ivo Josipovic last week joined European leaders who will not attend a Yalta summit in mid-May. The Croatian president’s office said that one of the reasons for the decision is suspected human rights violations in Ukraine. The news comes after a foreign ministry spokesman in Ukraine said on April 30, that the presidents of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Slovenia has informed Kiev that they will not attend the Yalta meeting of Central and Eastern European leaders on May 11-12.

The boycott of the Yalta meeting reflects mounting concern over the hunger striking opposition leader and the treatment of her in jail. Yulia Tymoshenko was sentenced last fall to seven years imprisonment for abusing power while she was in office. She has denied the allegations. 

At the end of April the German president, Joachim Gauck, confirmed that he will not travel to Ukraine to attend the meeting of Central European presidents because of concerns over former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s treatment, reported New York Times, adding that “the Russian Foreign Ministry, in an unusual move, called on the Ukrainian authorities to ’demonstrate humanity’ toward her”.

The Yalta meeting is by some seen as a prelude to a possible boycott of the 8 June-1 July Euro 2012 football tournament that Ukraine is hosting, together with neighbouring Poland.

Germany was the first country to call the games in question: “moving the games from Ukraine to Poland, Austria or Germany would be the correct political signal to the undemocratic government in Kyiv,” said Erika Steinbach, human rights spokesperson for Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in German Parliament. On May 2, Austria and Belgium announced that they will boycott the Euro 2012 matches which are to be played in Ukraine, in a protest against the mistreatment of the former prime minister Yulia Timoshenko, reported footballzz.com. At the end of last week Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told Swedish media that he will not attend the games in Ukraine as “political developments in Ukraine have become a hindrance”.  In addition  Androulla Vassiliou, European Commission for  Sport stated that he will not travel to Ukraine.

A spokeswoman for EU commission chief Barroso told press on April 30, that he “has no intention at this point in time of going to Ukraine or participating in events in Ukraine” when asked if he will attend the Euro2012 soccer games in June and July despite allegations of serious human rights abuses.

“We are increasing pressure on President Yanukovich of Ukraine. He must unblock the European future of his country,” wrote Carl Bildt, Sweden’s foreign minister, yesterday on Twitter. When asked by New York Times if he would join the boycott Mr. Bildt said of Mr. Yanukovich: “It is he who is blocking.”

The official Kyiv has accused Western politicians of employing “cold war tactics”.

The thematic page is meant to serve as information hub for facts about Azerbaijan.

Go to Democracy for Azerbaijan
The Foundation has also organized two seminars on Azerbaijan

in Örebro on March 16 (in English)

in Stockholm on April 27 (in Swedish)

The Foundation has also published an  interview report (March 2012) about the developments Azerbaijan.

General, local and presidential elections will be held in Serbia on May 6. Single national lists will enable voters, for the first time, to cast ballots at any polling station in the country. In previous elections, Serbs could vote only at their registered place of residence. Some 70,000 Serbians have joined political parties since the beginning of this election year, taking the total over the 2-million barrier in the country of 7 million, reports balkaninsight.com.

Boris Tadic, Serbia’s president, resigned earlier in March hoping that by holding the elections earlier his Democratic party (DS) would capitalize on Serbia’s success last month in finally gaining the status of a candidate for European Union membership. His move may reinvigorate the chances of DS, writes Financial Times. “His party and its allies are facing a strong challenge from the opposition conservative Serbian Progressive party (SNS).” Boris Tadic and his party have made EU accession a priority since he narrowly won re-election in 2008. Last year, Serbia arrested and extradited the last two ethnic Serb war crimes suspects still at large, including Bosnian Serb wartime commander and genocide suspect Ratko Mladic. A recent poll puts Boris Tadic and his centrist Democratic Party on 26.7%, slightly ahead of Serbian Progressive Party’s Tomislav Nikolić on 25.7%.

“The country of 7.3 million people is still coming to terms with the political and economic legacy of a decade of war and isolation under Milosevic, who was ousted in 2000 and died in 2006 while on trial in The Hague for his role in the wars that tore apart socialist Yugoslavia”, reports EurActiv.com/Reuters. “A bloated public administration, rusting infrastructure and continued tensions with its former Kosovo province has stifled development and deterred investors.”

The Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation has two cooperation partners in Serbia: Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and G17 Plus. The latter is part of an election coalition called the United Regions of Serbia (URS). The leader of the coalition Mladjan Dinkic, used to be Deputy Prime Minister, but left the government earlier this year.

“Decentralization is a core value for URS’s campaign” explaines Tomislav Damnjanovic, G17 Plus Campaign Manager.  URS has collected over 600,000 signatures for the decentralization of Serbia and has become a symbol of this objective. “It is often forgotten by Belgraders that this city is not at all popular outside of the capital and is often blamed for bad conditions in the country side. Because of this communities outside of Belgrade often supported autonomists and others that know how to fiercely stand up to Belgrade. Unlike other politicians from the capital, Dinkic has tirelessly travelled across Serbia for more than a year now. To listen and learn what the average voter in Serbia has to say” says Tomislav Damnjanovic.

In the campaign URS focus on: Decentralization, economy, a platform for agriculture and “the biggest surprise is” a program for state professionalization.  “And URS is climbing in the polls” says Tomislav Damnjanovic.

“After analyzing all the figures from surveyes we concluded that the key to the success of URS’s campaign lies in the extraordinary popularity growth among the young electorate, those who have completed high school, and workers – the latter surpirsed even campaign staffers” says Tomislav Damnjanovic, G17 Plus Campaign Manager. Thus, URS has devoted special attention to its campaign on the Internet. A special team was formed of volunteers. Currently URS’s fan page has the highest number of “likes“ among all parties in Serbia, while “talk about” is matchless.

URS has nominated Zoran Stankovic for president.

“To many it came as a chock when Zoran Stankovic became Minister of Health” explaines Tomislav Damnjanovic. “He is non-partisan and has an indisputable professional and academic reputation. He is almost a war hero, a man with all the positive individual and professional qualities.”

“Stankovic is acceptable to conservative Serbia. He can reconcile, harmonize and lead the country with unquestionable authority. His views are refreshing because he can approach topics that others can not.”

The Hjalmarson Foundation’s second cooperation party in Serbia, Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), is promoting a program of political neutrality. “According to the program of neutrality, instead of striving for membership in EU, Serbia will develop a cooperation based on mutual interest with EU, as well as with its member countries” explains Nicola Lazic, MP, International Secretary. Also, he says, DSS will continue to promote all traditional European democratic values. “Affirmation of constitutional provisions also means continuation of efforts to preserve territorial integrity of Serbia, when it comes to Kosovo”. DSS has a detailed economic program, “which should stop negative economic trends, create new jobs and improve standard of living”.  Also DSS focus on the agriculture sector. “Infrastructure projects (particularly through private-public partnerships), as well as the energy sector represent a great potential for development.”

DSS will insist on reforming judiciary, because the party believes there is no free society and freedom of individuals without independent judiciary and strong rule of law. It is also a prerequisite for attracting investors to Serbia. DSS plans to promote policies to provide demographic recovery of Serbia.

Facts about Presidential Elections:

The president is elected in a direct election with the mandate for five years. The new president must win an absolute majority of votes of those who cast ballots. If no candidate wins more than 50 per cent of the votes in the first round, the two top candidates go into the second round that must be held within 15 days. In the second round, the candidate with the highest number of votes wins.

Facts about General Elections:

In the general election, Serbian citizens will vote for 250 deputies whose mandate lasts four years.

The whole of Serbia is a single electoral unit. Seats are allocated in proportion to the number of votes won by each list, using the highest quotient system. On each list every third candidate must be a member of the sex that is less represented in the list. The threshold for parties to enter parliament is 5 per cent. This does not apply to parties representing ethnic minorities.

In Serbia’s political system, the Prime Minister holds most executive power, while the President manages foreign policy and commands the armed forces.

Facts about Local Elections:

Voters are also electing local authorities for 150 municipalities and 24 cities.

The system is the same as for general elections. Seats are awarded through a party-list proportional representation system with a 5 per cent threshold for all but ethnic minority parties and with every third candidate on the lists having to be a member of the less represented gender.

(Source: BalkanInsight.com)

Hans-Gunnar Adén (left) and Gunnar Hökmark

MEP Gunnar Hökmark who recently visited Azerbaijan in his role as chairman of the Policy Committee of Euronests Parliamentary Assembly and Hans-Gunnar Adén, former ambassador to Azerbaijan participated on Friday in a seminar on developments in Azerbaijan. An interested crowd of about 30 people had gathered to listen and ask questions.

Hans-Gunnar Adén started out referring to a number of international index that “classify” Azerbaijan as unfree and as a dictatorship. He noted that the Azerbaijani society rather go backwards than forwards in terms such as human rights. 

Hans-Gunnar Adén also told the audience about his experiences, including how religion affects the Azeri society. Gunnar Hökmark explained how important it is that politicians from the West visit Azerbaijan, but  alsothat they meet with government critics. ”This will give the critics some protection” he said.

MP Elisabeth Björnsdotter Rahm was one of numerous in the audience asking questions.

The Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation report - Azerbaijan in the shadow of a dictatorship - were distributed to all present. At the same time, a new theme page on the Foundation website was launched. Visit the new page, Democracy for Azerbaijan.

The panelists at the seminar examined the importance of the Eurovision Song Contest being held in Baku in late May. Does it makes sense that this event will be held in Azerbaijan, asked one person in the audience, who also pointed out that the Hockey World Cup 2014 will be held in Belarus. Although it is also a dictatorship. Gunnar Hökmark meant that it is important that many visitors come to Azerbaijan and hopefully they will see a bit of the Azerbaijani reality. Instead of only the regime’s doctored image of the country. ”But the Hockey World Championship should not be held in Belarus,” said Hökmark and explained that the event will most likely only be used by the dictatorship.

See and hear what else was said at the seminar.

“We have united in order to win the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, [and] to restore democracy and justice in Ukraine,” First Deputy Chairman of the Batkivschyna All-Ukrainian Union Oleksandr Turchynov said, reading out the declaration of unity at a press conference on Monday, Apr. 23.

“Our political forces are forming a joint list for the elections and agreeing on their candidates for single-mandate constituencies,” the declaration reads.

According to the declaration, the Ukrainian legislation bans election blocs from participating in the election. Therefore the joint list of the candidates of the opposition will be formed on the basis of the Batkivschyna Party, which has the highest rating among the opposition parties. Batkivschyna Party Leader Yulia Tymoshenko and Front for Change Leader Arseniy Yatseniuk will lead the list.

In addition to the Front for Change and the Batkivschyna parties, the united opposition includes the Popular Rukh of Ukraine, the People’s Self-Defense Party, the For Ukraine Party, and the Reforms and Order Party, Yatseniuk said.

(Source: Kyiv Post)

New York Times reported that “the police on Thursday released a statement saying that seven employees of the oil company were “demolishing illegal houses” on the company’s property in the village of Sulutepe, when they were attacked by a crowd of 200-250 local residents and left with injuries. Also injured were “two residents of the settlement,” one of them Mr. Abbasov, said the police statement, carried by the APA news service.

National Independence Party of Azerbaijan said in a press release on April 20, that officers from SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) used “physical violence against journalists fulfilling their duties”, adding that despite the fact that several police officers were present they didn’t prevent the incident. “In spite of the number of such treatments, deaths and beatings, as well as blackmailing of journalists in Azerbaijan, there are so far not sufficient measures taken to punish the offenders”.

NIPA declared that tyranny and criminal methods used by the regime has “put the country’s future under threat and may cause acute discord”. The party states that the authorities must investigate this case.

Read about the contest

Read the report

One of them is the prominent critic of dictator Aliaksandr Lukasenka – Andrei Sannikau (58), former deputy foreign minister and leader of the oppositional movement European Belarus. He was suddenly released on April 14 after serving about a year and a half of a five-year prison term. He was accused of organizing the “mass riots” during the election night.

On April 15, Dzmitry Bandarenka (49), aide to Andrei Sannikau was released. He was accused of participating in mass riots and sentenced to two years imprisonment.

It is worth noting, that both oppositional politicians made a request for pardon to president Lukashenka in the autumn of last year. Requests that have apparently finally have been approved.

The releases came three weeks after the EU agreed to freeze the assets of 29 Belarusian companies, block accounts and ban EU travel for additional 12 individuals, in the toughest Western sanctions yet against Minsk.

Read the article