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“Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is ready for a dialogue with the opposition”, says the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Christian Strohal. “The President assured me that he is ready for a dialogue with political forces”, he told a press conference on Friday. “We are ready to support a dialogue between the authorities and the opposition”, Strohal said, stressing the need for such a dialogue prior to the parliamentary election due this autumn, Assa-Irada reported.(10-FEB-2005)

“The disputed presidential elections of October 2003 and rigged municipal elections of 2005 in the Republic of Azerbaijan proved that the local NGOs should work dynamically and actively with the general public, particularly with those living in remote areas. For the reason that these people are lack of the awareness on basic electoral rights and other fundamental civil rights. At present, we should focus on purging the cynicism in society against free and fair elections.”, says Fuad Hasanov, the director of the “Against Violence” Human Rights Centre (AVHRC). (10-FEB-2005)

“Many people addressing to our Committee are mostly those who suffered and were terribly tortured by police. Nowadays, our citizens are so awfully tortured in police stations and military units. There is no strange that it is impossible to surprise the people of Republic of Azerbaijan if someone beaten and tortured in police station will be killed there. The tortures are so much terrible that everybody will confess in any crime that he had never committed. All society of our country is aware of the fact that if somebody had been in police station could die as a consequence of tortures; nobody will be punished for this”, says Elchin Behbudov, chairman of Republic of Azerbaijan Committee Against Tortures (ACAT). (9-FEB-2005)

“I think all the items inserted into the OSCE report are true to the facts.” This is how human rights activist Murad Sadaddinov commented on the provisions of the OSCE report on people convicted for involvement into disturbances, which happened just aftermath the disputed presidential elections of October 2003. Leyla Yunus, Director of Institute of Peace and Democracy, said that OSCE recommendations to the Azerbaijani authorities to pay compensations to the suffered people must be immediately carried into life. (9-FEB-2005)

The decision to set up the OSCE fact-finding mission was made after Republic of Azerbaijan put the issue of Armenians? settlement in the occupied lands on the agenda of the UN General Assembly session. -Only a democratic development in the Republic of Azerbaijan and Republic of Armenia will garanty a peaceful solution of the conflict, the chairman of the Republic of Azerbaijan Popular Front party, Ali Kerimli, said in a meeting with the Norwegian Helsinki Committe, Human Rights House Foundation and Amnesty International  when he visited Oslo yesterday (2-FEB-2005)
 

In a joint operation with their Azerbaijani colleagues, Russian police have apprehended at an undisclosed location Arif Huseinov, the brother of former Prime Minister Suret Huseinov on 26 January. Arif Huseinov is wanted on charges of involvement in the alleged coup d’etat against then President Heydar Aliyev masterminded by Suret Huseinov. (28-JAN-2005)

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) plans to allocate less funds to Republic of Azerbaijan than Georgia and Republic of Armenia in 2005, the Republic of Azerbaijan National NGO Forum president Azay Guliyev told journalists on Tuesday. (27-JAN-2005)

The report “Conflict in Nagorno Karabakh”, which was compiled by the PACE rapporteur on Nagorno Karabakh David Atkinson, was adopted at the PACE Winter Session on Tuesday. “Armenia and Republic of Azerbaijan should actively submit constructive proposals to each other via the OSCE’s Minsk Group for achieving a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and if that fails, they should consider using the UN’s International Court of Justice”, the Assembly said. (26-JAN-2005)
  

The Azerbaijani National Forum of NGOs presented the report on the situation in the non- governmental sector over 2004 year on Tuesday.   According to the President of the Forum Azay Guliyev, last year was significant from the   point of view of expansion and development of the movement of NGO. At present,  2935 local NGOs operate in Republic of Azerbaijan. (26-JAN-2005)