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Caucasus Corruption Levels: Is Azerbaijan The One To Watch?

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  • Caucasus Corruption Levels: Is Azerbaijan The One To Watch?

    CAUCASUS CORRUPTION LEVELS: IS AZERBAIJAN THE ONE TO WATCH?

    EurasiaNet.org, NY
    July 10 2013

    July 10, 2013 - 12:58pm, by Giorgi Lomsadze

    The results for Azerbaijan proved the big surprise from the South
    Caucasus in this year's Global Corruption Barometer by anti-corruption
    watchdog Transparency International.*

    Though Azerbaijan is repeatedly rated and berated as the region's
    most corrupt country, many of the 1,001 Azerbaijanis surveyed for the
    poll by the Baku-based SIAR (Social and Marketing Research Company)
    had a more positive assessment of their national corruption situation
    than did respondents for neighboring Armenia and Georgia.

    Azerbaijan long has had run-ins with allegations that senior officials
    and members of President Ilham Aliyev's family are cashing in on their
    positions, but, apparently, most respondents believe the government
    now is giving the corruption fight all it's got. Sixty-eight percent of
    respondents deemed the government's actions "effective," a rate which
    topped Georgia, often described as the region's main corruption-buster,
    by 14-percentage points.

    On perceptions of corruption in the public sector, Azerbaijan finished
    a half point behind Georgia, roughly mid-range on a scale of one to
    five, while Armenia settled firmly into the trouble zone at 4.4.

    Similarly, both in Azerbaijan and Georgia, public perception of
    corruption of political parties was 28 percent of respondents,
    according to Transparency International (TI). The rate is noticeably
    higher in Armenia, at 57 percent.

    Azerbaijani respondents were also the least critical of their
    essentially single-party parliament than Georgians and Armenians of
    their multi-party legislatures. Based on the TI survey, Azerbaijani
    respondents also have the least reason to complain about corruption in
    the media, an unexpected result for a country repeatedly criticized by
    both domestic and international press-freedom monitors for muzzling
    media.

    At the same time, though, results for some potentially telling
    questions were omitted. No answers were provided for the query "To what
    extent is this country's government run by a few big entities acting
    in their own best interests?" Nor was feedback given for respondent
    identification of public services to which they had paid a bribe in
    the past year and the usual reason for the bribe/s.

    Reasons for these gaps in the survey, performed via computer-assisted
    telephone interviews, were not provided.

    Needless to say, Azerbaijani officials already are taking bows for
    the results. And promise even more anti-corruption wonders after this
    October's presidential election.

    http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67233

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