Tweet
AZG Armenian Daily #143, 16/08/2005
Neighbors
NEW FACE OF ANTI-ARMENIAN MOODS IN AZERBAIJAN
Anti-Armenian moods hovering in Azerbaijan as high as on the state
level are changing their guise as parliamentary elections approach. On
August 3, the head of Yeni Fikir youth party, Ruslan Bashirli, was
arrested on charge of an attempt to "seize the Azerbaijani government"
by the help of US National Democratic Institute and special services of
Armenia. A press release by the Chief Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan
points out that Bashirli received $2.000 from Armenian agents.
The National Security Service of Armenia dubbed the claims of the Azeri
prosecutor "ridiculous and far from reality". "One cannot settle inner
issues of Azerbaijan by forgotten methods that the USSR employed in
20s-30s", head of the NSS, Gor Hakobian, stated.
Bashirli's arrest triggered protest marches against the chairman
of People's Front Party (Yeni Fikir is its youth wing) all over
Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliyev probably expected that the world
community would close its eyes to the assaults on this nationalistic
party and its leader Ali Kerimli. But the OSCE Baku office condemned
the violence and the US Embassy to Azerbaijan urged Aliyev to condemn
attacks on the opposition and secure just forthcoming elections.
By Tatoul Hakobian
Neighbors
NEW FACE OF ANTI-ARMENIAN MOODS IN AZERBAIJAN
Anti-Armenian moods hovering in Azerbaijan as high as on the state
level are changing their guise as parliamentary elections approach. On
August 3, the head of Yeni Fikir youth party, Ruslan Bashirli, was
arrested on charge of an attempt to "seize the Azerbaijani government"
by the help of US National Democratic Institute and special services of
Armenia. A press release by the Chief Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan
points out that Bashirli received $2.000 from Armenian agents.
The National Security Service of Armenia dubbed the claims of the Azeri
prosecutor "ridiculous and far from reality". "One cannot settle inner
issues of Azerbaijan by forgotten methods that the USSR employed in
20s-30s", head of the NSS, Gor Hakobian, stated.
Bashirli's arrest triggered protest marches against the chairman
of People's Front Party (Yeni Fikir is its youth wing) all over
Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliyev probably expected that the world
community would close its eyes to the assaults on this nationalistic
party and its leader Ali Kerimli. But the OSCE Baku office condemned
the violence and the US Embassy to Azerbaijan urged Aliyev to condemn
attacks on the opposition and secure just forthcoming elections.
By Tatoul Hakobian