Azerbaijan, Baku, 24 September / Trend corr. I.Alizade / Baku does not agree with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) report on media situation in Azerbaijan.
"Enough work has been done in the field of political pluralism, freedom of speech and media in Azerbaijan," Ali Hasanov, the head of the Public and Political Department of the Azerbaijani President's Administration, told journalists on 24 September.
The OSCE publicized a report on the pre-election state of the Azerbaijani media. The report states lack of political pluralism and difference in opinion in the Azerbaijani media.
Political pluralism was fully restored in the Azerbaijani media and there is not any censorship on the media, the official of the President's Administration said. Media is published and spread independently.
"We deny such kind of remarks. We do not accept such opinions, despite authors of such statements are the OSCE, the Council of Europe or other international organizations," Hasanov said
The media may have some problems, he said. "Unfortunately, some interested forces assess these problems as a general tendency and concern it to the whole country, basing on individual cases," Hasanov said.
The top official of the President's Administration expressed his opinion on cancellation of the Elections Monitoring Center's registration by the state. He said that tens of organizations observe the elections and hold monitoring in Azerbaijan.
"Therefore, the Azerbaijani authorities do not have any grounds to suspend any organizations. As to the registration problem of the so-called Elections Monitoring Center, the Justice Ministry is engaged in the matter," he said.
The presidential elections will be held in Azerbaijan on 15 October.
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