The president of the Council of LINKS, Dame Audrey Glover DBE CMG today (16th September 2006) ended a six day visit to Azerbaijan and Turkey during which she participated in various events connected with LINKS current work in the two countries.
In Azerbaijan, Dame Audrey Glover presided over the launch of the new partnership project between LINKS and the Parliament of Azerbaijan held at the Akhundov National Library in Baku on Monday 11th September. She was later a guest of honour at a dinner hosted by the British Ambassador to Azerbaijan, HE Laurie Bristow at his residence. Dame Audrey Glover also visited the offices of LINKS in Baku and was the guest speaker at the weekly seminar of the LINKS internship programme during which she spoke on the theme “Human Rights: Universal or Double Standards”. Her presentation was followed by a lively discussion amongst those present.
From Baku, the President of LINKS travelled to Ankara, where on Wednesday 12 September she visited the Ataturk Memorial and Museum and formally paid her respects to the memory of the Turkish National Leader Kemal Ataturk and laid flowers on his tomb.
During her visit to Turkey Dame Audrey Glover participated in a round table discussion co-organised by LINKS at the European Research Centre of Ankara University (ATAUM), visited the Turkish Democracy Foundation and had various meetings with partners and stakeholders of LINKS current projects in Turkey which focus on the countries’ accession negotiations with the European Union.
On her last day in Turkey on Friday, 15th September the president of the Council of LINKS spoke on the theme “Human Rights and Business” at the International Summit on Private-Public Partnership organised by the Association for Corporate Social Responsibility at the Sheraton Hotel in Ankara. Other speakers in the event were the Ministers of Finance and Transport of Turkey, representatives of the UN and the World Bank and the British Consul General in Istanbul.
Speaking at the end of her visit to Azerbaijan and Turkey, the President of the Council of LINKS, Dame Audrey Glover, expressed satisfaction with the recently launched LINKS projects in Azerbaijan and Turkey and reiterated LINKS commitment to work with the parliaments, governments and civil society organisations in the two countries on strengthening their democratic institutions and promoting their relationship with the European Union and its institutions.
During her visit to Azerbaijan, Dame Audrey Glover DBE CMG, President of the Council of LINKS made the opening remarks at the ceremony to launch the LINKS partnership project with the Milli Meclis of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The following is a transcript of her opening remarks at the M.F. Akhundov National Library, in Baku – 11 September 2006.
Madam Deputy Speaker
Ambassador Bristow,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I came for the first time to Azerbaijan in 1996 in my capacity as Director of ODIHR I met your then President Heidar Aliev to discuss issues related to the situation of human rights and the rule of law in your country. Azerbaijan was going through a difficult moment in its history, but the process of renewal and reconstruction had already started. Today, a decade later, I am pleased to see that there has been progress in the process of state-building.
The huge economic activity generated by the increase in revenues from oil and gas is set to make Azerbaijan one of the most dynamic economies in the Eurasia region in the next ten years. In a speech in Slovenia a few days ago, your current President, Mr Ilham Aliev, very correctly said that political reforms and economic development must go hand in hand and it is impossible to have one without the other. The new vitality in the Azerbaijani economy will only make sense if it is accompanied with a new dynamism in the political process. In this the Millie Meclis of Azerbaijan has a pivotal role to play.
For this reason I am delighted to be here for the launch of this important project that LINKS is implementing in partnership with the Azerbaijan Parliament and with the support of the British government.
This project has two aspects – the first is the strengthening of the institution of parliament. We in Britain know that this is a long term process. It took many centuries for the parliamentary tradition that we now enjoy to develop. But having learned from our own mistakes we were happy to share these traditions with others with whom we have long historical connections and the parliamentary tradition is now strong in countries as diverse as India, South Africa and Canada. The project will work with the different departments of the parliament, with the standing commissions and with individual MPs in order to help develop parliamentary practices in Azerbaijan and this for the benefit not only of the present parliament, but for future parliaments to come.
This project is also about communication. Communication is a two way process. The Parliament must be able to communicate its work to the citizens that it represents; it must also be a good listener for it must hear what the citizens are saying in order to reflect their opinions in the decision making process. This project will work to develop a new communications strategy that, we hope, will create new opportunities for interaction between parliament, media and civil society. This work will start immediately. Next week one of Britain’s leading parliamentary journalists, Nicholas Jones, will run a workshop on parliamentary journalism for the Azerbaijani journalists who work in the parliament. From next month students and young people from all over Azerbaijan will visit Parliament as part of study visits on Parliamentary practices. We hope that thousands of visitors will visit Parliament each year as part of this programme. NGOs will also be assisted to monitor the work of parliament and feed into the parliamentary process. We hope that shortly this can be done also during public hearings on issues of national interest organised by the Standing Commissions of Parliament.
This project would not have been possible had it not been for the support and interest shown in it by His Excellency the Speaker, Mr Oktay Asadov. The process of renewal that Mr Asagov has initiated since becoming Speaker of Parliament a few months ago is to be commended. It also makes this project timely and important.
Many of you are aware that LINKS has worked in Azerbaijan for more than a decade. Our work has focused on developing political pluralism, working with young people, contributing to the debate about Nagorno Karabakh, amongst others. This work will continue and expand in the future.
LINKS is also the initiator and facilitator of the South Caucasus Parliamentary Initiative. We very much appreciate the serious and positive contribution played by the Parliament of Azerbaijan in this process and look forward to working with the Azerbaijani Presidency of this process when they take over in January 2007.
Finally I want to thank the British Embassy in Baku for being an enthusiastic supporter of LINKS work in Azerbaijan, and particularly for their assistance in securing the necessary funding from the Global Opportunities Fund of the UK government for this project. I want also to thank the staff of LINKS Delegation to Azerbaijan for their hard work, and the staff of the Millie Meclis who have co-operated with them to ensure a good start for this project.
