Europe on Watch as Armenia Goes to Referendum

November 27, 2005
zaman.com
By Emre Demir, Cihan News Agency

Europe as well awaits the outcome of the constitutional referendum in Armenia. The positive public response bears great importance for the Council of Europe (CE).
[...]
[...]. Joining the CE requires the acceptance of the principle of the supremacy of the law and the guaranteeing of the basic human rights and the freedoms of the citizens. CE had launched a process of reform in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, which were accepted as members in 2000.

The referendum in Armenia received a noticeably low level of international observer participation. The European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) did not send any observers to the referendum and CE sent a team of 18 observers. The elections held on November 6 in Azerbaijan however were followed by 1,500 observers from various international organizations.
[...]

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.