On December 21, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Christian Strohal, who is on the visit to Azerbaijan, met with the heads of the opposition political parties. The meeting, held in the OSCE Baku Office, was attended by the co-chairmen of Azadlig Political Block, Ali Karimli, Sardar Jalaloglu, Ali Aliyev, Ayvaz Temirkhan, chairman of Musavat Party, Isa Gambar and co-chairman of Social-Democratic Party, Araz Alizade.
Isa Gambar informed Trend that the meeting focused on the implementation of the obligation undertaken by Azerbaijan before the OSCE. According to Gambar, the heads of the parties expressed their attitude towards the obligations, as well as the situation with democracy and human rights in Azerbaijan.
Araz Alizade said that during the meeting, he presented to the attention of the OSCE Envoy that the rights of the co-chairman of the Social-Democratic Party, Ayaz Mutalimmov, who currently lives in exile are violated, and he is not issued with the Azerbaijan passport. In addition, debates were organized on the democratization processes in Azerbaijan. Strohal voiced his confidence that 2007 will be a year of dialogue in Azerbaijan.