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Former Azerbaijan president, candidate for parliament, calls for sweeping reforms
By AIDA SULTANOVA
The Associated Press
08/16/05 14:51 EDT
MOSCOW (AP) - Azerbaijan's former president, who is running in this
fall's crucial parliamentary elections on Tuesday, called for sweeping
reforms in the oil-rich Caspian Sea nation.
Ayaz Mutalibov, who was the country's first post-Soviet president,
also told The Associated Press in an interview that criminal charges
accusing him of negligence and of plotting to overthrow the government
were groundless.
"I am clean and honorable before my people. The sole reason why this
is being done is to delay me further and so that there is no political
competition," he told AP.
Mutalibov was deposed in 1992 amid economic turmoil and losses in a
war with neighboring Armenia. Authorities have accused of orchestrating
coup attempts in 1995 and 1997 in the oil-rich nation.
On Monday, Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov again warned that Mutalibov
would be arrested if he returned to Azerbaijan.
This spring, Mutalibov announced he was joining an opposition alliance
seeking to gain a majority in Azerbaijan's parliament, which currently
is dominated by President Ilham Aliev's governing party.
Mutalibov, who has lived in Russia since his ouster, said Azerbaijan
needed sweeping reforms, including changes to the political system
and an overhaul of its economy. He said the country should move to
a parliamentary form of governance, with political parties taking
greater authority.
"(Aliev) has a beautiful chance to portray himself as a reformer.
This step could bring him not insignificant political dividends,"
he said.
Tensions between the government and opposition have risen sharply
in recent months with opposition groups accusing the government of
planning to rig the November election. Authorities say the opposition
is planning to foment unrest in a bid to seize power.
Azeribaijani opposition parties have been emboldened by the rise
to power of opposition groups in other former Soviet republics of
Ukraine and Georgia.
Azerbaijan's October 2003 presidential election, in which Aliev
succeeded his late father, was widely viewed as marred by fraud.
In Baku, meanwhile, the ruling party announced Tuesday that Aliev's
wife, Mehriban, would be a candidate in the November vote.
By AIDA SULTANOVA
The Associated Press
08/16/05 14:51 EDT
MOSCOW (AP) - Azerbaijan's former president, who is running in this
fall's crucial parliamentary elections on Tuesday, called for sweeping
reforms in the oil-rich Caspian Sea nation.
Ayaz Mutalibov, who was the country's first post-Soviet president,
also told The Associated Press in an interview that criminal charges
accusing him of negligence and of plotting to overthrow the government
were groundless.
"I am clean and honorable before my people. The sole reason why this
is being done is to delay me further and so that there is no political
competition," he told AP.
Mutalibov was deposed in 1992 amid economic turmoil and losses in a
war with neighboring Armenia. Authorities have accused of orchestrating
coup attempts in 1995 and 1997 in the oil-rich nation.
On Monday, Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov again warned that Mutalibov
would be arrested if he returned to Azerbaijan.
This spring, Mutalibov announced he was joining an opposition alliance
seeking to gain a majority in Azerbaijan's parliament, which currently
is dominated by President Ilham Aliev's governing party.
Mutalibov, who has lived in Russia since his ouster, said Azerbaijan
needed sweeping reforms, including changes to the political system
and an overhaul of its economy. He said the country should move to
a parliamentary form of governance, with political parties taking
greater authority.
"(Aliev) has a beautiful chance to portray himself as a reformer.
This step could bring him not insignificant political dividends,"
he said.
Tensions between the government and opposition have risen sharply
in recent months with opposition groups accusing the government of
planning to rig the November election. Authorities say the opposition
is planning to foment unrest in a bid to seize power.
Azeribaijani opposition parties have been emboldened by the rise
to power of opposition groups in other former Soviet republics of
Ukraine and Georgia.
Azerbaijan's October 2003 presidential election, in which Aliev
succeeded his late father, was widely viewed as marred by fraud.
In Baku, meanwhile, the ruling party announced Tuesday that Aliev's
wife, Mehriban, would be a candidate in the November vote.