Azeri leader looking for partners in undemocratic countries – pundit

Yeni Musavat, Baku
18 Mar 05

Text of Kanan report by Azerbaijani newspaper Yeni Musavat on 18 March
headlined “China does not care whether Azerbaijan is a democratic
country or not” and subheaded “Hacizada believes that Ilham Aliyev is
looking towards despotic countries since he is not invited to
civilized countries”

Criticized by the democratic countries of the world, [Azerbaijani
President] Ilham Aliyev is looking towards despotic and authoritarian
regimes in the East. It is not by chance that Iran, Russia, Saudi
Arabia are among the countries recently visited by the successor. The
only European state, which he recently visited, is Italy – the home
country of the mafia.

It must be remembered that the Washington administration, which was
reproached by the democratic public for supporting Ilham Aliyev when
he came to power, has not yet invited him to the USA. Therefore, the
successor’s visits are confined to the northern and southern routes
and other undemocratic countries.

Political expert Hikmat Hacizada sees two reasons behind the Western
countries’ reluctance to send invitations to Ilham Aliyev. First, the
West and the USA are specifically demonstrating their dislike for
Ilham Aliyev’s dictatorial policy in Azerbaijan. That’s to say the
government has an anti-democratic image.

The second reason, the pundit thinks, is that Azerbaijan is lagging
behind these countries in many aspects: “On the other hand, from an
economic point of view, Azerbaijan has nothing in common with
democratic countries. In other words, the country is in such a
situation that there is no sphere left for cooperation with the West.”

We wonder how undemocratic countries of the East can help Ilham
Aliyev? Some people believe that with these visits, the successor is
compensating for the lack of invitations from the West.

Although the pundit ruled out political support, he admits that such
visits promote economic ties. “Visits to such countries are less
productive from a political point of view. Although they are despotic
regimes, they have no strength. However, it is possible to do some
low-level business with them. It is possible to exchange raw materials
and establish other low-level bilateral relations. For the time being,
things have not reached a point when Ilham Aliyev would be paying
visits for the sake of paying visits. They have certain relations with
despotic countries, but these contacts certainly cannot be compared to
business relations with democratic countries.”

Ilham Aliyev flew to China yesterday. According to official reports,
documents on bilateral cooperation will be signed and a business forum
will be held there. Commenting on the successor’s visit to Beijing,
Hikmat Hacizada said the visit was important to both sides at the
moment. “China is a big country and its influence is on the
increase. Beijing is trying to be more active in its foreign
policy. Azerbaijan is an ordinary country with which China wants to
cooperate. China probably intends to make investment in Azerbaijan and
take part in oil projects. In principle, we also need to establish
ties with China to resolve the Karabakh problem and implement economic
projects. China is also one of the important states in the UN.”

The pundit thinks that since China is not a democratic country, Ilham
Aliyev can set up normal partnership with it: “Beijing does not care
whether Azerbaijan is a democratic country or not, because China
itself is not well-developed either. Therefore, Azerbaijan can be
China’s worthy partner both in the economic and political spheres.”