The Washington Post
March 26, 2010 Friday
Regional Edition

Democracy for Azerbaijan

by Ali Karimli

Perhaps many Americans know my country for its oil wealth or the
conflict with Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh. Recently, thanks to an
investigative report on Washington Post, Azerbaijan also became known
as a nation whose president bought $75 million worth luxury villas in
Dubai. While outraged, those of us in Azerbaijan, were not surprised
by the discovery of Mr. Ilham Aliyev’s assets abroad. What else could
be expected from a leader who inherited power from his father through
fraudulent elections?

For nearly seven years, Ilham Aliyev’s tenure has been marked with
brutal crackdown on the opposition and independent media. Thousands of
Azeri citizens protesting the dynastic succession of power were
arrested, beaten, and tortured in the immediate aftermath of the
October elections of 2003. As opposition supporters languished in
jail, the deputy U.S. State Secretary Richard Armitage placed a phone
call to Ilham Aliyev congratulating him on his "landslide" victory.
The voices of protest were stifled under the blows of the police
batons amid silent approval by the Western powers eager to work with a
new leader they viewed as young and progressive.

On the eve of parliamentary elections, in 2005, inspired by the
Western support given to the democratic revolutions in Georgia and
Ukraine, the Azeri democrats once more challenged the authoritarian
regime of Ilham Aliyev. The script went along familiar lines: the
government falsified the election results, the opposition protests
were crushed and the Washington praised the efforts of the Azerbaijani
Constitutional Court which had just approved the false elections
results.

Having evicted major opposition parties from their headquarters,
Aliyev then moved decisively against independent media. One editor was
shot to death, while several others received harsh prison sentences on
trumped up charges. Evidently, Ilham Aliyev interpreted the silent
approval of the international community as a carte blanche to turn a
country with long-standing democratic traditions to a fiefdom.

There was a time when Azerbaijan’s future looked promising. In 1980’s,
the Azeris were at the forefront of the democratic movements that led
to the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1992, Azerbaijan held its
first democratic elections in which Abulfaz Elchibey, the leader of
the Popular Front won 59 percent of votes. Mr. Elchibey viewed himself
as a political heir to the founders of the Azerbaijan Democratic
Republic in 1918. Azerbaijan was the first nation ever in the Muslim
world to establish a parliamentary democracy that granted universal
suffrage, ahead of many Western countries.

These days, the only vote that counts is that of Ilham Aliyev. In
2009, after "winning" his second term in a presidential elections with
no viable opposition alternative, Ilham Aliyev and his rubber stamp
parliament changed the constitution to lift the presidential term
limits.

The next parliamentary elections are due to be held in upcoming
November. The democratic opposition, once again, is preparing to
challenge the regime. There is no sign that the Azerbaijani
government’s response will be any different this year. However, we
have made the decision to participate in the election process because
we recognize that this is our chance to fight for our ideals. Our
platform is simple: We intend to establish a functional democracy in
our country. Given Azerbaijan’s resourceful populace, we can and must
decrease our nation’s dependence on oil. We must break the economic
monopolies under corrupt government officials. Our goal is to
establish a free market based economy. We want Azerbaijan to integrate
into Euro-Atlantic community of nations and end its status as a
satellite of autocratic Russia.

As we continue our struggle for freedom, it is vital that the United
States pursues an appropriate course of action with regard to the
largest nation in South Caucasus. Currently, the U.S.-Azerbaijan
relations are founded on three declared pillars — cooperation on
energy, security, and democratic development. Sadly, many people in
Azerbaijan see the American strategy as a policy primarily driven by
energy interests and the global war on terror, whereas democracy is
given a short shrift. We expect that the Obama administration will
convey to the Azerbaijani leader that the democratic reforms and human
rights constitute a priority in the relationship between the two
countries.

Given the recent experience in the Middle East and elsewhere, The
American policymakers should be well aware that authoritarian and
corrupt regimes do not make reliable allies. Nor can they be
considered stable because such stability is not based on the consent
of the governed. We do no seek intervention or financial assistance
from the United States. What the democratic opposition of Azerbaijan
needs is the moral support of America that stands by its own values.

Ali Karimli is the chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan
and co-founder of Azadlig (Freedom) Political Block of Opposition
Parties.