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APPEARANCE OF A LIFE-SIZE STATUE OF HEYDAR ALIYEV IN MEXICO CITY RAISES EYEBROWS AND PROTESTS: WHO'S NEXT? HITLER? STALIN?
ARMINFO
Tuesday, October 2, 21:31
The appearance of a life-size statue of Azerbaijan's "founder of
the nation" Heydar Aliyev on Mexico City's elegant Reforma Avenue,
not far from Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and Mexico's national
heroes, is raising eyebrows and protests, Associated Press.
"It turns out that Azerbaijan contributed much of the 65 million pesos
($5 million) it cost to renovate not one, but two Mexico City parks,
allowing it to put monuments in both. Critics say that Aliyev, who
stifled dissent, shouldn't be on a boulevard decorated with statues
to Mexican and foreign heroes", the source says.
"They probably have a warehouse full of these things somewhere" in
Azerbaijan, said Daniel Gershenson, human rights activist who was 1 of
about a dozen protesters who demonstrated last week in front of the
monument, holding banners that read "Get rid of the dictator!" "It's
like a personality cult, transferred to Mexico," said writer and
activist Homero Aridjis, who described the style as "social realism
from the Soviet era.' "It's as if they brought a dictator from Mars,
"Aridjis said. "Are we going to be a center for monuments to dead
dictators? Who's next? Hitler? Stalin?"
Azerbaijan's ambassador to Mexico, Ilgar Mukhtarov, wrote that
Azerbaijan has lavished attention on Mexico because it was 1 of the
first countries to recognize Azerbaijan after the breakup of the
Soviet Union.
"A second Azerbaijani statue appears in the other park they paid
to renovate, Tlaxcoaque park in downtown Mexico City. It depicts
a woman, her arms uplifted in mourning, commemorating Khojaly, a
village where hundreds of Azerbaijanis were reportedly killed during
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Advocates say a monument to Mexican
suffering would have been more appropriate for a site once used as
a police interrogation and torture center", the source says.
ARMINFO
Tuesday, October 2, 21:31
The appearance of a life-size statue of Azerbaijan's "founder of
the nation" Heydar Aliyev on Mexico City's elegant Reforma Avenue,
not far from Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and Mexico's national
heroes, is raising eyebrows and protests, Associated Press.
"It turns out that Azerbaijan contributed much of the 65 million pesos
($5 million) it cost to renovate not one, but two Mexico City parks,
allowing it to put monuments in both. Critics say that Aliyev, who
stifled dissent, shouldn't be on a boulevard decorated with statues
to Mexican and foreign heroes", the source says.
"They probably have a warehouse full of these things somewhere" in
Azerbaijan, said Daniel Gershenson, human rights activist who was 1 of
about a dozen protesters who demonstrated last week in front of the
monument, holding banners that read "Get rid of the dictator!" "It's
like a personality cult, transferred to Mexico," said writer and
activist Homero Aridjis, who described the style as "social realism
from the Soviet era.' "It's as if they brought a dictator from Mars,
"Aridjis said. "Are we going to be a center for monuments to dead
dictators? Who's next? Hitler? Stalin?"
Azerbaijan's ambassador to Mexico, Ilgar Mukhtarov, wrote that
Azerbaijan has lavished attention on Mexico because it was 1 of the
first countries to recognize Azerbaijan after the breakup of the
Soviet Union.
"A second Azerbaijani statue appears in the other park they paid
to renovate, Tlaxcoaque park in downtown Mexico City. It depicts
a woman, her arms uplifted in mourning, commemorating Khojaly, a
village where hundreds of Azerbaijanis were reportedly killed during
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Advocates say a monument to Mexican
suffering would have been more appropriate for a site once used as
a police interrogation and torture center", the source says.