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Azerbaijan relaunches opposition crackdown with coup charges
by: Simon Ostrovsky
Agence France Presse -- English
August 7, 2005 Sunday 4:53 AM GMT
BAKU Aug 7 -- The arrest of an opposition leader in former Soviet
Azerbaijan over an alleged coup plot hatched by Armenian secret police
and a US democracy group reactivates an opposition crackdown in the
oil rich republic ahead of parliamentary elections.
Prosecutors on Thursday announced the arrest of Ruslan Bashirli,
the leader of the Yeni Fikir youth group modeled on movements that
helped topple regimes in Ukraine and Georgia recently, on charges of
attempting "to take power by force."
His detention came just two months after the Azerbaijani authorities
had lifted a ban on public demonstrations that had been in place since
the contested 2003 presidential elections which ended in rioting and
hundreds of arrests.
The two days of rioting that enveloped the capital Baku in 2003 put
Azerbaijan in the international headlines. Since then, the authorities
have clamped down on dissent, loosening the unspoken ban on rallies
only in June after heavy Western diplomatic pressure.
Prosecutors accuse Bashirli of accepting money from Armenian operatives
posing as democracy activists from Georgia and Armenia in order to
finance a revolt planned by the US-based National Democratic Institute
(NDI).
While in Georgia in July, Bashirli told the Armenians he represented
forces "acting on the instructions of the National Democratic Institute
of the USA," according to a prosecutors' statement.
He said he had received "specific instructions from representatives
of this organization to prepare a revolution in Azerbaijan," the
statement said.
Azerbaijan fought and lost a bitter war with Armenia over the
mountainous region of Nagorno Karabakh in the early 1990s and the
two former Soviet republics have yet to sign a formal peace deal.
Both Yeni Fikir and NDI denied they were plotting to oust the regime
of president Ilham Aliyev, with the US group's Azerbaijan director
Christy Quirk saying the allegations "just aren't true."
Bashirli's deputy Said Nuriyev told AFP the youth leader made the
comments about NDI "because he was drunk and bragging."
Armenia too rejected on Friday accusations that its secret police
were involved in an alleged plot to overthrow the government in Baku.
The charges Bashirli faces echo similar allegations applied to
politicians who fell out of favor during the decade long rule of the
Aliyev clan, and currently live in exile or languish in prisons.
Since his arrest was announced national television networks have
repeatedly aired footage of Bashirli meeting with the alleged Armenian
agents.
One of the channels, Lider, has interspersed footage from the meeting
-- where Bahirli could be seen discussing democracy in Azerbaijan
and drinking with three men -- with pictures of Azerbaijanis killed
or mutilated during the Karabakh war.
Azerbaijan's opposition has slammed the arrest as a smear campaign
orchestrated by the National Security Ministry ahead of parliamentary
elections in November.
Ali Kerimli, the leader of Azerbaijan's National Front Party with
which Yeni Fikir shares an office, said Bashirli was set up "because
the authorities understand that they don't stand a chance against
the opposition in a fair fight."
At the same time the National Front Party has distanced itself from
Yeni Fikir, calling Bashirli's statements "regrettable."
Lider aired footage of refugees from the Karabakh war as they
demonstrated in front the Party's headquarters showering the building's
facade with eggs on Saturday.
Some observers have predicted the case would expose strains within the
opposition, which formed a loose coalition ahead of the parliamentary
vote earlier this year.
But parties that form the Azadliq opposition block have vowed to
stick with the National Front despite the campaign they claim has
been launched against it.
"Our relationship with the National Front will categorically be
unchanged," said Sardar Jalaloglu, who leads the Democratic Party
of Azerbaijan. "This set-up was staged by the Ministry of National
Security."
by: Simon Ostrovsky
Agence France Presse -- English
August 7, 2005 Sunday 4:53 AM GMT
BAKU Aug 7 -- The arrest of an opposition leader in former Soviet
Azerbaijan over an alleged coup plot hatched by Armenian secret police
and a US democracy group reactivates an opposition crackdown in the
oil rich republic ahead of parliamentary elections.
Prosecutors on Thursday announced the arrest of Ruslan Bashirli,
the leader of the Yeni Fikir youth group modeled on movements that
helped topple regimes in Ukraine and Georgia recently, on charges of
attempting "to take power by force."
His detention came just two months after the Azerbaijani authorities
had lifted a ban on public demonstrations that had been in place since
the contested 2003 presidential elections which ended in rioting and
hundreds of arrests.
The two days of rioting that enveloped the capital Baku in 2003 put
Azerbaijan in the international headlines. Since then, the authorities
have clamped down on dissent, loosening the unspoken ban on rallies
only in June after heavy Western diplomatic pressure.
Prosecutors accuse Bashirli of accepting money from Armenian operatives
posing as democracy activists from Georgia and Armenia in order to
finance a revolt planned by the US-based National Democratic Institute
(NDI).
While in Georgia in July, Bashirli told the Armenians he represented
forces "acting on the instructions of the National Democratic Institute
of the USA," according to a prosecutors' statement.
He said he had received "specific instructions from representatives
of this organization to prepare a revolution in Azerbaijan," the
statement said.
Azerbaijan fought and lost a bitter war with Armenia over the
mountainous region of Nagorno Karabakh in the early 1990s and the
two former Soviet republics have yet to sign a formal peace deal.
Both Yeni Fikir and NDI denied they were plotting to oust the regime
of president Ilham Aliyev, with the US group's Azerbaijan director
Christy Quirk saying the allegations "just aren't true."
Bashirli's deputy Said Nuriyev told AFP the youth leader made the
comments about NDI "because he was drunk and bragging."
Armenia too rejected on Friday accusations that its secret police
were involved in an alleged plot to overthrow the government in Baku.
The charges Bashirli faces echo similar allegations applied to
politicians who fell out of favor during the decade long rule of the
Aliyev clan, and currently live in exile or languish in prisons.
Since his arrest was announced national television networks have
repeatedly aired footage of Bashirli meeting with the alleged Armenian
agents.
One of the channels, Lider, has interspersed footage from the meeting
-- where Bahirli could be seen discussing democracy in Azerbaijan
and drinking with three men -- with pictures of Azerbaijanis killed
or mutilated during the Karabakh war.
Azerbaijan's opposition has slammed the arrest as a smear campaign
orchestrated by the National Security Ministry ahead of parliamentary
elections in November.
Ali Kerimli, the leader of Azerbaijan's National Front Party with
which Yeni Fikir shares an office, said Bashirli was set up "because
the authorities understand that they don't stand a chance against
the opposition in a fair fight."
At the same time the National Front Party has distanced itself from
Yeni Fikir, calling Bashirli's statements "regrettable."
Lider aired footage of refugees from the Karabakh war as they
demonstrated in front the Party's headquarters showering the building's
facade with eggs on Saturday.
Some observers have predicted the case would expose strains within the
opposition, which formed a loose coalition ahead of the parliamentary
vote earlier this year.
But parties that form the Azadliq opposition block have vowed to
stick with the National Front despite the campaign they claim has
been launched against it.
"Our relationship with the National Front will categorically be
unchanged," said Sardar Jalaloglu, who leads the Democratic Party
of Azerbaijan. "This set-up was staged by the Ministry of National
Security."