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Mexico panel rejects Azerbaijan leader's statue

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  • Mexico panel rejects Azerbaijan leader's statue

    CT Post
    Nov 23 2012

    Mexico panel rejects Azerbaijan leader's statue
    MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press


    MEXICO CITY (AP) - A commission of intellectuals recommended Friday
    that Mexico City's government remove a life-size bronze statue of
    Azerbaijan's former president that provoked a storm of criticism after
    it was installed on the capital's main boulevard.

    The Stalinesque statue of the late Geidar Aliyev was erected by the
    Azerbaijani Embassy, which paid for the renovation of part of the city
    park where it sits and other public works totaling about $5 million.
    Aliyev has been criticized for repressing opponents and critics.

    The commission of three writers and analysts appointed by the city
    government said authorities erred by accepting money to allow a
    foreign government to essentially decide which political figures or
    historic events should be commemorated in the capital's public spaces.

    "In view of the majority opinions of the citizens and neighbors, the
    sculpture of Geidar Aliyev should be removed from the emblematic spot"
    on the Reforma boulevard, commission member Guillermo Osorno said.

    The panel suggested that a citizen board be set up to review such
    proposals in the future.

    "We believe that monuments or street names that are offensive,
    hurtful, or which make unilateral judgments on international disputes
    should not be installed in public spaces," Osorno said.

    Protesters have said they are offended by a monument to an
    authoritarian figure like Aliyev, who led Azerbaijan first as
    Communist Party boss during Soviet times and then as president from
    1993 until his death in 2003.

    Critics' anger has been amplified by a plaque on Aliyev's statue that
    describes him as "a brilliant example of infinite devotion to the
    motherland, loyal to the universal ideals of world peace" and by the
    location of the statue not far from monuments to Mahatma Gandhi,
    Abraham Lincoln and Mexico's national heroes.

    Writer and activist Homero Aridjis said the city government has a
    problem: the money it accepted from the Central Asian nation, which
    might have to be returned.

    "The problem is the money. If it were just a political issue, they'd
    make the decision without any further ado," he said.

    "They have to remove the statue," said Aridjis, who participated in
    protests against the monument. "They have no other choice. It would be
    a happy ending to a sordid story."

    Azerbaijani Ambassador Ilgar Yusif oglu Mukhtarov said that although
    he didn't agree with some of the commission's recommendations, he
    would discuss them with city authorities to find a resolution that
    everyone agreed with.

    Mukhtarov charged that the government of Armenia, with which
    Azerbaijan has tense relations, and local Armenians were behind the
    campaign to remove Aliyev's statue.

    "We are aware that the current situation was driven by the Armenian
    government and the Armenian local diaspora in an attempt to discredit
    the work, life and dedication of Azerbaijan's national leader,"
    Mukhtarov said a news conference.

    Last month, the embassy suggested in a statement that removing the
    statue could affect diplomatic relations. It said the city government
    had signed an agreement stipulating the monument should be allowed to
    remain in the spot for 99 years.

    The city government's press office said authorities hadn't made a
    decision yet on whether to follow the commission's recommendation.

    Mayor Marcelo Ebrard was somewhat evasive, saying, "We are going to
    review it carefully ... and we will reply."

    Osorno, however, said the city government has already offered
    Azerbaijan a cultural center where the statue could be displayed
    indoors. That "would be more appropriate," he said.

    The issue was particularly thorny because the city government prides
    itself on its progressive policies and respect for human rights. Some
    officials have suggested authorities weren't really aware of who
    Aliyev was when the monument was approved.

    The advisory commission also recommended that a second
    Azerbaijani-funded monument in the downtown Tlaxcoaque plaza be
    changed.

    That statue depicts a woman, her arms uplifted in mourning,
    commemorating Khojaly, a village where hundreds of Azerbaijanis were
    reportedly killed during Azerbaijan's conflict with Armenia over the
    Nagorno-Karabakh region.

    The commission said a plaque on the monument calling it "genocide" was
    misleading. Genocide is a term more commonly applied to the killing of
    about 1.5 million Armenians in the region in 1915.

    Moreover, the Tlaxcoaque plaza was the site of a police torture and
    detention center that collapsed in Mexico City's 1985 earthquake. The
    commission said it would be more appropriate to commemorate Mexicans
    who died there.

    "We think this space should be dedicated to the victims of forced
    disappearance, torture and execution," Osorno said.

    http://www.ctpost.com/news/world/article/Mexico-panel-rejects-Azerbaijan-leader-s-statue-4061778.php#ixzz2D5YUxQB6

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