Azeri President Rules out Possibility of Popular Uprisings
The New Anatolian
June 29 2005
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev on Tuesday ruled out the
possibility of popular uprisings in his country similar to those that
toppled unpopular regimes in other former Soviet nations.
Opposition activists have held three rallies in as many weeks in
Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, demanding free and fair elections in
November. The mounting pressure on authorities has led some observers
to predict the Caspian Sea nation could see a massive uprising
similar to those in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.
Asked in a live interview with Turkey’s CNN-Turk television if the
same could happen in Azerbaijan, Aliev replied: “Absolutely not.”
“Some parallels havebeen drawn, but every country has its own
history, its own process,” Aliev said in the interview in Baku. “I
don’t see the fundamentals for it to happen.”
“In those countries there was no faith between the government and the
people. … The people did not accept their actions… They wanted
change,” Aliev said.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan travels to Azerbaijan on
Wednesday for a two-day visit in which he is expected to urge greater
democracy in the country. Turkey and Azerbaijan share close cultural
and linguistic ties and are close allies. Turkey closed its border
with Armenia in 1993 in a show of support for Azerbaijan’s six-year
war with Armenia.
The November election is key for Azerbaijan, the starting point of a
pipeline that Washington says will reduce world dependence on Middle
Eastern oil.
The opposition has accused authorities of rigging the October 2003
presidential election, which allowed Aliev to succeed his late
father, Geidar Aliev.
That vote triggered clashes between police and opposition
demonstrators who alleged the vote had been rigged. One person died
in the violence, and nearly 200 were injured.
Aliev’s government denied the allegations of vote-rigging and ignored
the opposition demands to change electoral law.
“There will be no problem,” Aliev told CNN-Turk in reference to the
November election. “The necessary decrees have been issued. It will
be bright, democratic and transparent.”
Source: The New Anatolian, 29 June 2005
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress