В"It is the ball that must be hit, but not the football player”. The proverb has been voiced by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CE) Terry Davis on 5 September 2005 during the news conference in Baku, while commenting on the position of the organization headed by him on the issue of coverage of the election campaign in the media of Azerbaijan.
В"It is admissible that the media criticize political views of this or that political figure, however, attacks on the personality of a candidate are not acceptable.
Therefore, it is important to hit the player, i.e., views, but not the personality вЂ" a ball, the CE Secretary General stated, noting the “black PR” in any form must be terminated.
According to Terry Davis, CE is interested in democratic elections to the Parliament of Azerbaijan, of which the necessary factor is the unbiased coverage of the election campaign in the media. He reminded, the “Code of Behaviour” for media is developed in Azerbaijan, which is to be signed by each media organization.
В"I believe, the current legislative base of Azerbaijan will enable to hold fair and open elections”, Davis said, noting, the leadership of Azerbaijan does its utmost in this respect. Of a special importance in the opinion of Davis is the decree of Ilham Aliyev of 11 May “On improvement of the election practice”.
В"Those who attempt to violate the election legislation, are against the President’s will and only one word may be applied to them - “a national traitor”, Davis noted.
Touching upon the CE position on non-fulfillment of some recommendations of the international institutions, the CE Secretary General said: “I will be very much surprised, if during the upcoming elections no violations are found out.
However, the history of Azerbaijan does not end on 6 November. We will work with the new Parliament of Azerbaijan with the recommendations to be taken into account
In conclusion, Terry Davis voiced the position on using the marking paint on the voting day, noting this measure is, undoubtedly, positive and its appliance in Azerbaijan will help holding just elections.
