The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mr. Mevlut Cavusoglu said that free and fair elections are of keen importance for Azerbaijan. “Azerbaijan is on the threshold of parliamentary elections. Besides, Azerbaijan will mark its 10-year membership in the CoE this year. Thus, during my visit to Azerbaijan, I stressed that free and fair elections would be the best way to mark the anniversary,” Cavusoglu told a press conference in Yerevan.

Cavusoglu said that during his meetings with the Azerbaijani leadership he referred to issues of journalists’ and bloggers’ arrests, as well as political prisoners. “The Azerbaijani leadership promised that a progress will be recorded in this direction in the near future,” he said, adding that a PACE president should contribute to the solution of problems of all CoE member countries and strongly oppose to application of dual standards in the CoE.