Azeri parliamentary speaker is losing his power – daily

Baki Xabar, Baku
6 Sep 04

It is evident that the ruling team has completely cornered Azerbaijani
Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov. He will obviously have a problem getting
a deputy seat during the next parliamentary elections. As a result
of pressure exerted from everywhere, the speaker has been sidelined
from all processes within the government. Now it is only known that
Alasgarov is trying to maintain his post and get out of this situation.

It is now generally accepted that the speaker, who has the status of
the third most important official in the country, has been sidelined
from all processes. There are evidently problems between the different
branches of power. The “weak” are hit in the war for mutual reputation
[as published]. As a result, the staff led by a weak figure operate
just symbolically. In fact, the dynamics of the current process show
that the organization led by a weak figure is not a centre of power
in the government, as has been the case with Murtuz Alasgarov. His
tenure as speaker has shadowed the parliament’s activities and turned
it into a powerless one. This is just the result of the fact that the
speaker does not even attend the ceremonies of meeting and seeing off
the country’s president and does not accompany him on his visits to the
country’s districts and abroad. But being the speaker, he is expected
to attend these ceremonies. The fact that he is on the sidelines
from these events shows that he is among the “hit” people. Truly,
one might link the speaker’s isolation from the said ceremonies to
his physical condition. However, it seems to be implausible.

For this reason, one can assume that Alasgarov has already become
an undesirable figure in the government. He is even unaware of the
government’s Karabakh talks. This is not our assumption. Alasgarov
confirmed this in a statement he made a few days ago. Touching upon
the Karabakh discussions by the [Azerbaijani and Armenian] presidents
and foreign ministers, Alasgarov said that he had no information
about those. Saying so, the speaker confirmed that he has been
“hit”. [Passage omitted: repetition.]

The chairman of the Great Creation Party, Fazil Qazanfaroglu,
also verified this in an interview with our newspaper yesterday
[5 September]. He said that Azerbaijan had no supreme legislative
body. Therefore, the speaker’s unawareness of the Karabakh talks
should be regarded as natural.

“A parliament formed on the basis of a list [of people] drawn up in
the way the president wished cannot be regarded as a serious body,”
Qazanfaroglu said and added that Alasgarov was an unimportant figure
in the country’s authorities.

Fazil bay [form of address] also said that generally the people
leading various branches of power do not keep each other informed
because of intrigues among them. Everyone is trying to provide their
information mainly to the first person. Therefore, the head of one
body is unaware of another’s activities. Qazanfaroglu said that
Alasgarov’s unawareness was of this kind and the case will be the
same until the [current] administration methods and the team change.