OPPRESSING DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS
Zerkalo, Baku,
26 Sep 06 pp 1,2
Or another phase of Russian-US political intrigues
A regulatory legal base has been formed in Azerbaijan, real conditions
exist for the operation of opposition parties and civil society,
freedom of expression and the press has been ensured. There cannot be
any talk of oppressing democracy with these institutions in existence,
the head of the public and political department of the Azerbaijani
Presidential Executive Staff, Ali Hasanov, has told Turan news agency.
At the same time, he admitted that there were some problems in the
application of the laws. "But such occurrences are not a tendency,"
he noted.
Hasanov said that the authorities are ready to accept all the
proposals which contribute to democratic elections. He recalled that
the most disputed issue while adopting the Electoral Code was about
the organization of the electoral commissions.
[Passage omitted: Hasanov favours current make-up of the electoral
commissions]
"There are conditions to hold a democratic election in Azerbaijan. It
is possible to hold democratic, free and fair elections with the
existing Electoral Code," Hasanov said.
"Democracy is developing in Azerbaijan, the process of building
a law-based state is intensifying and everyone, including state
officials and journalists, must be able to act within the framework
of the law." [Passage omitted: comment on lawsuits against journalists]
Thus, the topic of democracy in Azerbaijan is again on the agenda.
But this time the war does not seem to be going on between democrats
and anti-democrats. Most probably, the interests of super powers
continue to clash in the region and this clash is embellished with
democratic shades. The recent developments illustrate that Russia’s
influence in Azerbaijan remains huge. Washington has not managed
to neutralize the pro-Russian forces in the Azerbaijani authorities
following the parliamentary election [in 2005].
It is interesting that Russian media are again circulating reports
alleging that the USA intends to oust undesirable officials in
Azerbaijan and Armenia. Russian analysts believe that the USA will try
to resurrect "constructive opposition" in Azerbaijan soon and help
it demand the resignation of undesirable officials (if US interests
are ignored).
However, the USA understands that deprived of financial resources and
the electorate, the opposition is incapable of offering resistance
to the authorities. According to some information, high-ranking US
diplomats are looking for politicians in [Azerbaijani President] Ilham
Aliyev’s entourage who are promising for Washington and capable of
guaranteeing an irreversible shift in Baku’s policy towards the West.
But Russia has already enough support among Azerbaijani MPs, something
that worries US policymakers. There is recently an open war in the
ruling circles between "Westerners" and pro-Russian politicians. The
pro-Western opposition, which is actually at death’s door, is still
performing the role of a passive observer.
Nevertheless, Western circles have again started to reinforce
recommendations in the area of fighting corruption. It involves
public associations, students and individual representatives of the
government in joint anti-corruption efforts in education, health,
judicial authorities and law-enforcement bodies. It also calls for
an increase in public control over the government’s anti-corruption
measures and cover cases of corruption in the media. All this heralds
a new stage of the struggle started by Washington emissaries.