ALIYEV'S STATUE TO BE REMOVED TO SUBURB OF MEXICO
21:02, 25 January, 2013
YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS: The Mexico Municipality decided
to remove Heydar Aliyev's statue from the central park Paseo de
la Reforma of the city. As reports Armenpress, referring to "Ria
Novosti", the statue will be installed in one of Mexico's suburbs,
close to the building of cultural center of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani Ambassador to Mexico Ilgar Muhtarov threatened Mexico's'
authorities saying that removal of statue would undermine relations
between Azerbaijan and Mexico. In a result, sides compromised.
Azerbaijani side was suggested to be provided with a building in
order to turn in into cultural center of Azerbaijan.
Mexico Mayor informed that statue would be removed and reinstalled
in its new place in a week.
For installing Aliyev's monument in Mexico Azerbaijani government
spent about 5 million dollars on the renovation of Mexican parks.
Earlier the New York Times has reported that when the mayor inaugurated
a pretty little garden fronted by a very large statue at the edge
of the central Chapultepec Park last summer, it seemed another
step forward in his drive to improve the quality of life in this
impossible city.
Speaking off the cuff, the mayor praised the statue's subject -
a complete stranger to many Mexico City residents - as "a great
political leader, a statesman."
But the statue - a gift, along with the garden, from Azerbaijan - has
put the mayor in a bind. The United States State Department repeatedly
pointed out Azerbaijan's poor human rights record under Mr. Aliyev,
which included serious abuses and the suppression of democracy. A few
weeks after his bronze figure materialized along Mexico City's Paseo
de la Reforma, newspaper columnists, radio hosts and human rights
activists began to press for its removal.
Officials in Mr. Ebrard's cabinet were tongue-tied. They argued
that it was not Mexico's place to pass judgment on other countries'
leaders. That unleashed a spate of commentary in which writers threw
out the names of undesirable strongmen who might one day find a
pedestal on Mexico City streets under such reasoning.
21:02, 25 January, 2013
YEREVAN, JANUARY 25, ARMENPRESS: The Mexico Municipality decided
to remove Heydar Aliyev's statue from the central park Paseo de
la Reforma of the city. As reports Armenpress, referring to "Ria
Novosti", the statue will be installed in one of Mexico's suburbs,
close to the building of cultural center of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani Ambassador to Mexico Ilgar Muhtarov threatened Mexico's'
authorities saying that removal of statue would undermine relations
between Azerbaijan and Mexico. In a result, sides compromised.
Azerbaijani side was suggested to be provided with a building in
order to turn in into cultural center of Azerbaijan.
Mexico Mayor informed that statue would be removed and reinstalled
in its new place in a week.
For installing Aliyev's monument in Mexico Azerbaijani government
spent about 5 million dollars on the renovation of Mexican parks.
Earlier the New York Times has reported that when the mayor inaugurated
a pretty little garden fronted by a very large statue at the edge
of the central Chapultepec Park last summer, it seemed another
step forward in his drive to improve the quality of life in this
impossible city.
Speaking off the cuff, the mayor praised the statue's subject -
a complete stranger to many Mexico City residents - as "a great
political leader, a statesman."
But the statue - a gift, along with the garden, from Azerbaijan - has
put the mayor in a bind. The United States State Department repeatedly
pointed out Azerbaijan's poor human rights record under Mr. Aliyev,
which included serious abuses and the suppression of democracy. A few
weeks after his bronze figure materialized along Mexico City's Paseo
de la Reforma, newspaper columnists, radio hosts and human rights
activists began to press for its removal.
Officials in Mr. Ebrard's cabinet were tongue-tied. They argued
that it was not Mexico's place to pass judgment on other countries'
leaders. That unleashed a spate of commentary in which writers threw
out the names of undesirable strongmen who might one day find a
pedestal on Mexico City streets under such reasoning.