Chairman of Kazakhstan's Senate Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and OSCE PA Secretary General Spencer Oliver meeting in Astana on 10 November 2015. (Photo: Kazakh Parliament) COPENHAGEN, 12 November 2015 – OSCE PA Secretary General Spencer Oliver was a keynote speaker at the Astana Club’s inaugural meeting, held in the Kazakh capital from 9 to 11 November under the theme “The Geo-Economics of Eurasia.” Speaking on 9 November, Oliver addressed the OSCE’s

Isabel Santos COPENHAGEN, 12 November 2015 – The Chairperson of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), today welcomed the release of imprisoned Azerbaijani rights activist Arif Yunus, as ordered by the Baku Court of Appeals due to his deteriorating health. In August 2015 Arif Yunus and his wife, Leyla Yunus, were sentenced to prison terms of 7 and 8½

OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva (center right) speaks during his meeting with Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Groysman, 11 November 2015. KYIV, 11 November 2015 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) met today in Kyiv with Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) Chairman Volodymyr Groysman and parliamentarians from the Ukrainian Delegation to the Assembly for discussions that focused on the status of implementation of the

OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva COPENHAGEN, 5 November 2015 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) today expressed concern about the recent uptick in violence in eastern Ukraine and called on all parties to the conflict to do their utmost to promote conditions conducive to a political settlement. “I am concerned by the increase in violence over the last days in eastern Ukraine, particularly in Donetsk oblast, and

OSCE Special Co-ordinator Ignacio Sanchez Amor speaks to a reporter alongside OSCE PA Delegation Head Margareta Cederfelt at a polling station in Ankara, 1 November 2015. ANKARA, 2 November 2015 – The 1 November early parliamentary elections in Turkey offered voters a variety of choices. At the same time, the challenging security environment, particularly in the southeast of the country, coupled with a high number of violent incidents,

OSCE Special Co-ordinator Ignacio Sanchez Amor and OSCE PA Delegation Head Margareta Cederfelt in Ankara, 29 October 2015. ANKARA, 29 October 2015 – The OSCE Special Co-ordinator for observation of the early parliamentary elections in Turkey, Ignacio Sanchez Amor (MP, Spain), and the Head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Delegation of observers, Margareta Cederfelt (MP, Sweden), visited the center, east and west of the country this week in