On September 11, 2019, the Council of Europe Office in Azerbaijan and the Embassy of France in Azerbaijan organized a high-level Conference “Our Rights, our Freedoms, our Europe” on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe and the French Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The Conference discussed the historic role of the Council of Europe in promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe, as well as at the current and future challenges to be met by the Organization and its Member States.
The keynote speakers of the Conference included Ms. Liliane MAURY PASQUIER, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Prof. Elmira Suleymanova, Ombudsperson of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Following the keynote speeches, the Conference continued the proceeding with a panel debate. The panelists of the debate included Prof. Samad Seyidov, Chair of the Azerbaijani Delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; Mr. Christos Giakoumopoulos, Director General of the Directorate for General Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe; Mr. Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Mr. Ilgar Gurbanov, President of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice; Ms. Anna Capello-Brillat, Head of Confidence Building Measures Division of the Council of Europe's Directorate of Political Affairs; Dr. Ayca Ergun, Professor of European Affairs at Middle East Technical University and visiting Professor at ADA University. The high-level Conference was moderated by Dr. Elmar Mustafayev, Head of the Political Science and Philosophy Department of Khazar University.