AZG Armenian Daily #094, 25/05/2005

Neighbors

WASHINGTON TO ‘EXPRESS REGRET’ FOR ILHAM ALIYEV’S POLICY

Baku Authorities to Break up Opposition on June 4, Too

The administration of US President George Bush expresses regret for the
policy of Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, who applied force against
the opposition members during a rally on May 21. The law enforcement bodies
arrested several dozens of opposition rally participants. Some of the
arrested opposition activists are still in the prison.

“We express regret that the government of Azerbaijan rejected the appeal of
the opposition to hold a rally. It’s a pity that the police applied force
against the small groups of protesting people and arrested the participants
of the rally, Mediamax cited the statement of Richard Boucher, US Department
Spokesman and Assistant Secretary.

“We definitely support the right of people for holding peaceful and free
meetings, that is a natural component of the democratic process,” Baucher
said. He called for Baku authorities to secure proper legal procedures for
the arrested.

But Baku authorities are not going to follow the instructions from
Washington. Trend agency informed that the Azeri authorities threatened that
they will hinder the June 4 rally, as they did that on May 21.

Azeri high-ranking officials said that the radical opposition has no aim to
make democratic reforms by carrying out rallies. “If the authorities see
that they have fair intentions they would join the opposition rally.
Unfortunately, that is not so. The opposition is resolute to receive grants
from the international organizations and the Azeri government will not allow
that,” Hasanov said.

This is already the second case during the last eight months, when
Washington expresses its regret for the policy of Ilham Aliyev. In the
September of 2004, Washington criticized Baku authorities for forbidding
Armenian officers to arrive in Baku.

When in 2003 Ilham smashed the opposition, the US official were much more
permissive. The US ambassador to Baku even announced that the presidential
elections were held in democratic atmosphere. It’s worth mentioning that 71
journalists suffered during those days, hundreds of opposition activists
were arrested.

The Baku authorities explain their decision to break up the May 21
opposition rally by the fear that the situation might get destabilized
before the beginning of Baku-Tbilisi-Jehyan oil pipeline construction.

By Tatoul Hakobian