Tuesday, June 24 2014

 

Baku. A large group of representatives of the democratic
community of Azerbaijan adopted a Declaration, which called on the authorities
to sign an Association Agreement with the EU. The authors of the document
entitled "Statement on the necessity of Azerbaijan's integration with the
European Union" noted that 96 years ago the founders of the Azerbaijan
Democratic Republic (1918-20) identified modernization "of our society, as
one of the main directions of development is that our country is built on basis
of European democratic values and principles."

On the other hand, as the authors of the
document said, the European Union (EU) has opened a wide range of opportunities
for the development of the member countries of the structure, as well as
signatories to the Agreement on association, not threatening to their
independence.

In
addition, the European Parliament adopted resolutions on the Karabakh conflict
in support of the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and expressed the EU's
commitment to the rapid resolution of the conflict by peaceful means in
accordance with the principles of international law.

The Association Agreement can also
accelerate the political, economic and legal reforms in these countries.

In this regard, the authors call for the
Association Agreement with the EU. In their view, "the signing of this
agreement will create favorable conditions for ensuring human rights and
freedoms in Azerbaijan, the development of free trade and the economy,
strengthening the social protection of the population, the formation of an independent
judiciary, democratic elections, the approximation to the existing EU high
standards in many areas ranging from education and health to customs and tax
services, banking organizations, etc.

At the same time, the declaration states
that "the document on Strategic Partnership for Modernization proposed to
the EU by the Azerbaijani government cannot substitute for the Association
Agreement."

The authors also expressed concern about
"Russia's efforts in various ways to involve Azerbaijan in the Eurasian
Economic Community."

"We declare that this association is
not promising long-term political and economic long- term benefits and is
mostly created in order to ensure the interests of the current Russian
leadership. Azerbaijan's entry to this community could undermine its
independence and slow its political and economic development. Therefore,
Azerbaijan cannot participate in this union," the declaration says.

The document's authors urge the
authorities to announce that the Association Agreement with the EU will be
signed and accelerate the ongoing negotiations with the EU in this direction,
as well as complete tightened to 18 years Azerbaijan's accession negotiations
to the WTO.  In addition, they call as
quickly as possible to release political prisoners and start comprehensive
political reforms to open Azerbaijan the way to Europe.  The Declaration was signed by members of the
National Council of Democratic Forces, a large group of lawyers, intellectuals
and the journalistic community, youth organizations, civil society activists,
and politicians - Isa Gambar, Lala Shovket, Sabir Rustamkhanly, Natig Jafarli,
Eldar Namazov, etc.