Upon invitation of the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the delegation of the Turkic Council International Observer Mission headed by Deputy Secretary General Dr. Ömer Kocaman started monitoring the Presidential Elections of Azerbaijan on 8 April 2018 in the city of Guba.
The delegations for the international observation mission of the Turkic Council comprised officials of the Secretariat and representatives from Member State other than Azerbaijan – Kyrgyzstan and Turkey.
On 8 April, the observers met with the Head of the Guba District Executive Authority Ziyaddin Aliyev who briefly informed the guests on the pre-electoral process and exchanged views on the upcoming Presidential Elections. In turn, Deputy Secretary General Kocaman gave information about the Turkic Council, the activities of the organization, as well as the functions and objectives of the mission in the scope of the electoral observation.
The delegation also visited the Chairman of the District Election Commission of Guba Mubariz Abasov. The Chairman answered the questions of the delegation concerning the technical issues of the election process and provided information on the pre-election process, including the registration of candidates, the electoral campaign, and poll preparations.
Afterwards, the delegation paid visits to two polling stations to make a first-hand appraisal of the elections preparations.
Ambassador Metin Kılıç, Project Director of the Turkic Council Ali Çiviler, official from the Central Election Commission of Kyrgyzstan Baktynur Mambetov and Research Expert of the Turkic Council Dastan Almen were also present during the meetings.
