Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan is considered in the West as a European country, an executive of a British non-governmental organization has said.
Executive Director of London Information Network on Conflicts and State-building (LINKS), Dennis Sammut, said some in Europe question this on the grounds that the country is predominantly Muslim but these views are totally wrong.
"Azerbaijan could serve as Europe's intellectual tank," he told a roundtable, "Azerbaijan and Europe-2008", organized by LINKS in Baku last Wednesday.
Sammut emphasized that the Caucasus-Caspian Commission that comprises a slew of prominent politicians attached particular importance to Azerbaijan in its latest report.
He pointed to some problems in the way of Azerbaijan's European integration, mainly in the area of elections, the media and the overall situation.
"The OSCE has cited major shortfalls concerning the elections held in the country. Azerbaijan should strive not to lose the new opportunity presented by the upcoming presidential poll. On the other hand, the parliament should closely oversee the government's performance and courts should be independent."
Sammut said Azerbaijan could "export" Europe's liberal values to the East and Asia. This requires passing a decision on the country's economic model. Azerbaijan, whose population's average age is below that of Turkey, could also contribute human resources to Europe.
Sammut added that Europe could serve as a better job market for Azerbaijanis than Russia.
A great number of Azerbaijani citizens are employed in the neighboring country.
Director of the Strategic Research Center under the Azerbaijani President, Elkhan Nuriyev, said in his address at the event that a number of problems in the country's relations with the European Union remain unresolved. He said the EU's lukewarm attitude toward the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict was in evidence. "We don't want this kind of an attitude to persist."
Nuriyev said another problem was that the 27-member union was more critical of the developments ongoing in Azerbaijan than those in neighboring states. The EU is biased in its assessment of the political and social situation in the region.
"In fact, there are more problems with democracy in other regional states, but the EU is not harshly reacting to the hurdles posed to democratic development there.
"It did not severely criticize the developments that followed Armenia's presidential election. This stance causes some confusion among the Azerbaijani public," Nuriyev said.
Thousands of demonstrators protested in Yerevan for 10 days after the country's February 19 presidential election that they said was rigged. The protests were marred by violent clashes that left eight people dead and 131 injured.