President of Azerbaijan accuses the West of applying double standards
regarding criticism of the March referendum in Azerbaijan
31 January 2009 [10:25] – Today.Az
"A proposal to scrap a two-term limit on his presidency was aimed
at creating more democracy, not keeping him in power indefinitely",
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in his interview to Reuters.
President Aliyev accused the West of applying double standards in its
criticism of the referendum due in March on whether to scrap the
two-term limit.
"You will not find any member of the European Union whose leader cannot
be elected as many times as the people want him to be in this position.
Is it democratic? Yes. So the same should be applied to Azerbaijan,"
"It is democratic, so if the people support this or that leader they
have the right to elect him. So I think lifting the restrictions (on
the number of terms) is more democratic than having these restrictions".
"If the criticism is justified and when it comes from a respectable
source we are more than ready and willing to discuss it," he said.
"Some of the criticism we sometimes hear from various NGOs actualldoes
not bother (us) because this criticism is mainly biased." Aliyev said
the West often judged human rights selectively and ignored major
violations in countries where it had geopolitical interests. He
mentioned Armenia as an example. "The situation with human rights in
Azerbaijan is not bad. If you look at our region you will see that
countries in our neighbourhood who brutally violate the elementary
human rights of their people have not become the subject of criticism."
"Sometimes those countries that are considered to be more friendly or
more close or more, how to say it, more associated with the West, if
they do something wrong it is not noticed." "But if Azerbaijan, which
is also friendly to the West but which pursues its own independent
policy, does one percent of what those other countries do then we
immediately become a subject of criticism.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress