Azeri villagers complain authorities ignoring their problems

ANS TV, Baku
2 Sep 04

Presenter Members of an ANS crew have been attacked in Tartar western
Azerbaijan . A bureaucrat tried to smash our video camera in front
of district residents who cannot make local bureaucrats take heed of
their numerous problems.

Correspondent over video of people in a conference hall The major
problems of Tartar residents are related to land and electricity. We
came to this conclusion while observing the head of the executive
authorities receiving residents. The problems raised in the presence
of the district’s first man were great.

Qaragaci villagers said that land was distributed in the village
in 1997. However, 16 families still cannot plough their plots of land.

Rasul Haciyev from Qacagan village We come here almost every day. We
have appealed to the executive authorities and the court.

Correspondent Duman Yusifov from the village of Qaradagli, who has
not planted anything on his plot of land for two years, is unhappy
about the local municipality.

Yusifov My problem remains unresolved, I was here three weeks ago,
despite instructions, nobody took heed of them.

Correspondent The problem of Sixarx villagers is related to the lack
of electricity.

Isa Orucov from the village of Sixarx The settlement of Sixarx has
no electricity supplies. We are here to have our power lines cut off
forever. We had electricity two months ago.

Correspondent The problems of the refugees from Armenia are being
ignored by the local bureaucrats and the State Committee for
Refugees. Houses built for them by the committee in 1994 proved to
be of low quality and became unusable in three years.

Kamil Quliyev, a refugee from Armenia The executive authorities should
send a list to the committee, and in turn, they should draw up a formal
deed in order to repair, demolish or rebuild them. But none of these
has been done. The executive authorities are not giving us a letter
on the state of the houses , nor are they taking any steps themselves.

Passage omitted: other complaints

Correspondent Incidentally, our crew members were also attacked
by arbitrary bureaucrats in Tartar. Once the reception was over,
we filmed the scene outside the district executive authorities. At
this moment, the newly-appointed chief of the Tartar network section
of the Bayva Qarb power company, Seymur Haciyev, first attacked our
video camera and then our cameraman.

Haciyev ordering the cameraman to take the camera away Stop filming.

Cameraman I am not filming you.

Haciyev attacking and beating the video camera You cannot film me,
I shall smash it.

Correspondent We failed to learn the reasons for Seymur
Haciyev’s behaviour both from the executive authorities and from
himself. Apparently, the head of the department was enraged by the
fact that the majority of the complaints at the reception were
related to the electricity problem. Given this behaviour by the
head of the department with regard to the members of the country’s
leading TV company, it is not hard to imagine how he treats district
residents. The first deputy head of the executive authorities, Kamal
Alikisiyev, said that all in all, 731 complaints have been received
by the executive authorities this year. This is 15 per cent lower
than in 2003. Alikisiyev attributed this to the resolution of problems.

Sahin Rzayev and Zaur Nayibov for ANS from Tartar.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress