OSCE Special Co-ordinator Vilija Aleknaite Abramikiene (MP, Lithuania; left) was joined by OSCE PA Delegation Head Asa Lindestam (MP, Sweden; center) in delivering the post-election statement at a press conference on 11 August in Ankara. OSCE PA Director of Elections Andreas Baker looked on. ANKARA, 11 August 2014 – Three candidates, representing different political positions, were generally able to campaign freely, and freedoms of assembly and

ANKARA, 8 August 2014 – Senior OSCE parliamentarians have arrived in Ankara to lead the OSCE's short-term observation mission for Turkey's presidential election this weekend. Vilija Aleknaite Abramkiene (MP, Lithuania), the Special Co-ordinator of the OSCE's short-term observation mission, and Asa Lindestam (MP, Sweden), the Head of the OSCE PA Delegation of observers, are joining fellow parliamentarians for several days of briefings ahead of

COPENHAGEN, 5 August 2014 – Joao Soares (MP, Portugal), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Special Representative on the South Caucasus, today expressed deep concern over recent deadly violence along the Line of Contact and the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and urged all parties to the conflict to recommit themselves to finding a peaceful resolution. "The deteriorating security conditions and the current escalation in and around Nagorno-Karabakh

COPENHAGEN, 3 August 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) issued the following statement today on the passing of Barbara Prammer, President of the Austrian National Council (Nationalrat) and Head of Austria's Delegation to the PA: "The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly mourns the loss of our esteemed colleague and friend, Barbara Prammer. As President of the Austrian National Council and head of her country's

COPENHAGEN, 2 August 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) issued the following statement today on the death of Assembly member Vladimir Kulakov of Russia: "My colleagues and I in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly were shocked by the terrible news that Vladimir Kulakov, our colleague and good friend, was killed in an accident in Crimea. We remember him as an active contributor to the work of the Assembly, and in

COPENHAGEN, 1 August 2014 – Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), the Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, today deplored the intensifying crackdown on civil society in Azerbaijan and called on authorities to quickly reverse the trend. "With this latest round of attacks on the country's civil society, Azerbaijan is making a mockery of its stated aspirations to become a modern,