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Crackdown In Azerbaijan Tarnishes Aliyev's Image
RFE/RL
Monday, 23 May 2005
By Robert Parsons
Prague, 23 May 2005 (RFE/RL) -- There has been sharp international
criticism of the way the authorities in Azerbaijan prevented opposition
activists from holding a demonstration in Baku on 21 May. The United
States and the OSCE were among the most outspoken critics of the
police's use of violence. Dozens of opposition members were arrested and
some remain in detention.
This should have been a week of triumph for Azerbaijan's still youthful
president, Ilham Aliyev.
On 25 May, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a host of other
world leaders and businessmen will arrive in Baku, the Azerbaijani
capital, to celebrate the launch of the $4 billion Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline. Instead, his government is under a cloud of international
condemnation for its violent handling of an opposition demonstration on
21 May.
The Azerbaijani authorities have been undermined by their own
authoritarian reflex and their complete failure to anticipate
international reaction. And this despite the fact that the U.S. Embassy
in Azerbaijan had issued a statement the day before the rally, urging
the government to guarantee the right of Azeri citizens to free assembly.
If the intention of the authorities was to silence the opposition, its
ban on the rally was an abject failure. Even the opposition concedes
that no more than a few thousand took part, but the heavy police
presence in Baku guaranteed domestic and international publicity.
Norway's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Steynar Gil was among those on hand to
witness the beatings and arrests.
"Of course, one would have liked things to have happened differently.
The right to assembly is established by the constitution. It's a
universal right. They could have conducted this demonstration calmly,
just as happens in all democratic countries. I saw the [police] violence
with my own eyes. It was serious violence, I would say," Gil said.
Which is not to compare Azerbaijan with Uzbekistan, where earlier this
month government troops shot dead hundreds of protestors in Andijon and
elsewhere. But the international expectations placed on Azerbaijan in
Europe and elsewhere are higher - as are Azerbaijan's own pretensions.
Azerbaijan is a member of the Council of Europe and, like neighbouring
Georgia, aspires to membership of the European Union and NATO.
The government's claim that it banned the rally because of its proximity
to the upcoming ceremony to launch the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline
has convinced no-one. And now Baku must face U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice's visit, cringing in the knowledge that she may use the
occasion to press for faster democratic reform in Azerbaijan.
Elections This Year
A more likely cause for Baku's jittery response to the rally is
November's fast-approaching parliamentary elections.
The head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's
Baku office, Maurizio Pavesi, is among those taking a critical interest
in that upcoming poll.
"I think we are at the beginning of a very difficult electoral campaign
and all the parts should show responsibility because the electoral
campaign will be very long. It is unacceptable that the constitution is
not implemented, in other words that public manifestations are not
allowed. This is a measure that is already going on since the
presidential election in October 2003. It's 19 months now since we have
no public manifestation authorised by the local authorities," Pavesi said.
It's a point underscored by others, including the Council of Europe,
whose rapporteur on political prisoners, Malcolm Bruce, spoke today to
RFE/RL of his concern about the situation in Azerbaijan.
"It makes it difficult to see how Azerbaijan can have free and fair
elections if people who are trying to promote their opposition to the
government are constantly being arrested. What we're looking for is that
Azerbaijan as a member of the Council of Europe -- it's signed up for
pluralism, democracy, and the rule of law, and the Council of Europe
wants to work with Azerbaijan to enable this to happen," Bruce said.
If the government is worried about the forthcoming elections, it has
cause to be. A new wind of change is blowing through the region. Much
has happened since Aliyev was elected president in October 2003 amid
accusations of extensive ballot rigging.
The Rose Revolution in neighbouring Georgia and U.S. President George
Bush's state visit to Tbilisi last month have given fresh vigour to
civil society in Azerbaijan. And the state authorities have the examples
of Georgia and Ukraine to remind themselves of the dangers of cheating
the electorate in parliamentary elections.
This week, Azerbaijan celebrates the launch of a pipeline that will soon
be bringing billions of dollars into the state budget. Most governments
would be confident of contesting an election with the promise of so much
new money flowing into the country. But state corruption and the opacity
of government institutions have undermined popular trust. Oil revenues
have been pouring into the state coffers for years but few in Azerbaijan
have seen the benefits.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/05/af2b4a52-d15d-472c-bbe4-9ccb514f4cdc.html
RFE/RL
Monday, 23 May 2005
By Robert Parsons
Prague, 23 May 2005 (RFE/RL) -- There has been sharp international
criticism of the way the authorities in Azerbaijan prevented opposition
activists from holding a demonstration in Baku on 21 May. The United
States and the OSCE were among the most outspoken critics of the
police's use of violence. Dozens of opposition members were arrested and
some remain in detention.
This should have been a week of triumph for Azerbaijan's still youthful
president, Ilham Aliyev.
On 25 May, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a host of other
world leaders and businessmen will arrive in Baku, the Azerbaijani
capital, to celebrate the launch of the $4 billion Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
oil pipeline. Instead, his government is under a cloud of international
condemnation for its violent handling of an opposition demonstration on
21 May.
The Azerbaijani authorities have been undermined by their own
authoritarian reflex and their complete failure to anticipate
international reaction. And this despite the fact that the U.S. Embassy
in Azerbaijan had issued a statement the day before the rally, urging
the government to guarantee the right of Azeri citizens to free assembly.
If the intention of the authorities was to silence the opposition, its
ban on the rally was an abject failure. Even the opposition concedes
that no more than a few thousand took part, but the heavy police
presence in Baku guaranteed domestic and international publicity.
Norway's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Steynar Gil was among those on hand to
witness the beatings and arrests.
"Of course, one would have liked things to have happened differently.
The right to assembly is established by the constitution. It's a
universal right. They could have conducted this demonstration calmly,
just as happens in all democratic countries. I saw the [police] violence
with my own eyes. It was serious violence, I would say," Gil said.
Which is not to compare Azerbaijan with Uzbekistan, where earlier this
month government troops shot dead hundreds of protestors in Andijon and
elsewhere. But the international expectations placed on Azerbaijan in
Europe and elsewhere are higher - as are Azerbaijan's own pretensions.
Azerbaijan is a member of the Council of Europe and, like neighbouring
Georgia, aspires to membership of the European Union and NATO.
The government's claim that it banned the rally because of its proximity
to the upcoming ceremony to launch the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline
has convinced no-one. And now Baku must face U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice's visit, cringing in the knowledge that she may use the
occasion to press for faster democratic reform in Azerbaijan.
Elections This Year
A more likely cause for Baku's jittery response to the rally is
November's fast-approaching parliamentary elections.
The head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's
Baku office, Maurizio Pavesi, is among those taking a critical interest
in that upcoming poll.
"I think we are at the beginning of a very difficult electoral campaign
and all the parts should show responsibility because the electoral
campaign will be very long. It is unacceptable that the constitution is
not implemented, in other words that public manifestations are not
allowed. This is a measure that is already going on since the
presidential election in October 2003. It's 19 months now since we have
no public manifestation authorised by the local authorities," Pavesi said.
It's a point underscored by others, including the Council of Europe,
whose rapporteur on political prisoners, Malcolm Bruce, spoke today to
RFE/RL of his concern about the situation in Azerbaijan.
"It makes it difficult to see how Azerbaijan can have free and fair
elections if people who are trying to promote their opposition to the
government are constantly being arrested. What we're looking for is that
Azerbaijan as a member of the Council of Europe -- it's signed up for
pluralism, democracy, and the rule of law, and the Council of Europe
wants to work with Azerbaijan to enable this to happen," Bruce said.
If the government is worried about the forthcoming elections, it has
cause to be. A new wind of change is blowing through the region. Much
has happened since Aliyev was elected president in October 2003 amid
accusations of extensive ballot rigging.
The Rose Revolution in neighbouring Georgia and U.S. President George
Bush's state visit to Tbilisi last month have given fresh vigour to
civil society in Azerbaijan. And the state authorities have the examples
of Georgia and Ukraine to remind themselves of the dangers of cheating
the electorate in parliamentary elections.
This week, Azerbaijan celebrates the launch of a pipeline that will soon
be bringing billions of dollars into the state budget. Most governments
would be confident of contesting an election with the promise of so much
new money flowing into the country. But state corruption and the opacity
of government institutions have undermined popular trust. Oil revenues
have been pouring into the state coffers for years but few in Azerbaijan
have seen the benefits.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/05/af2b4a52-d15d-472c-bbe4-9ccb514f4cdc.html