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AMBASSADOR TO AZERBAIJAN FINDS DEMOCRACY WHERE NONE EXISTS
By Michael Rubin
AzeriReport
Nov 21 2012
WASHINGTON, DC. November 21, 2012: Azerbaijan is an important
American ally for a number of reasons. Unlike Turkey, it remains
true to its secular principles. Unlike neighboring Armenia-a country
which continues to occupy one-third of Azerbaijan-it remains firmly
oriented to the West and does not readily do Russia's and Iran's
bidding. And unlike Iran to its south, its majority Shi'ite Muslim
population realizes that empty religious rhetoric is no panacea.
Azerbaijan does have its flaws, however. Chief among them is its
leadership's reticence to reform and failure to make much if any
progress in the Azeri peoples' demands to move toward democracy.
Freedom House ranks Azerbaijan firmly in the "Not Free" camp.
Reporters Without Frontiers ranks Azerbaijani press freedom even below
that of Turkey and Russia, a depth which censors and security forces
must go out of their way to achieve.
How unfortunate, then, that Richard Morningstar, the U.S. ambassador
to Azerbaijan, has according to the Azeri press recently praised the
"democracy" which has taken root in Azerbaijan's autonomous Nakhchivan
province. More from the Azeri Report. Morningstar last came to notice
last spring when, upon first traveling to Azerbaijan as ambassador,
he apparently bowed before the statue of modern Azerbaijan's
less-than-democratic former leader.
It diminishes the achievement of democracies to pretend that democratic
systems exist where they clearly don't, and it undercuts the reputation
of the United States among broad swaths of the Azerbaijani electorate
when our professional Foreign Service officers offer such empty and
demonstrably false platitudes (Commentary Magazine).
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3781&Ite mid=48
From: A. Papazian
By Michael Rubin
AzeriReport
Nov 21 2012
WASHINGTON, DC. November 21, 2012: Azerbaijan is an important
American ally for a number of reasons. Unlike Turkey, it remains
true to its secular principles. Unlike neighboring Armenia-a country
which continues to occupy one-third of Azerbaijan-it remains firmly
oriented to the West and does not readily do Russia's and Iran's
bidding. And unlike Iran to its south, its majority Shi'ite Muslim
population realizes that empty religious rhetoric is no panacea.
Azerbaijan does have its flaws, however. Chief among them is its
leadership's reticence to reform and failure to make much if any
progress in the Azeri peoples' demands to move toward democracy.
Freedom House ranks Azerbaijan firmly in the "Not Free" camp.
Reporters Without Frontiers ranks Azerbaijani press freedom even below
that of Turkey and Russia, a depth which censors and security forces
must go out of their way to achieve.
How unfortunate, then, that Richard Morningstar, the U.S. ambassador
to Azerbaijan, has according to the Azeri press recently praised the
"democracy" which has taken root in Azerbaijan's autonomous Nakhchivan
province. More from the Azeri Report. Morningstar last came to notice
last spring when, upon first traveling to Azerbaijan as ambassador,
he apparently bowed before the statue of modern Azerbaijan's
less-than-democratic former leader.
It diminishes the achievement of democracies to pretend that democratic
systems exist where they clearly don't, and it undercuts the reputation
of the United States among broad swaths of the Azerbaijani electorate
when our professional Foreign Service officers offer such empty and
demonstrably false platitudes (Commentary Magazine).
http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3781&Ite mid=48
From: A. Papazian