Azeri Report
Oct 3 2012
Azerbaijani-Americans: Heydar Aliyev Mexico Monument Insult to
Azerbaijani and Mexican People
WASHINGTON. DC. October 3, 2012. Azerbaijani-Americans for Democracy
(AZAD) has written a letter to the government of Mexico City regarding
the recent media reports about the monument to the late Azerbaijani
dictator Heydar Aliyev that was erected in return for the millions of
dollars the Azerbaijani government paid for renovation of parks in
Mexico City.
Below is the text of AZAD’s letter:
“Dear Honorable Head of Government Mr. Ebrard,
Honorable Members of the Government of Federal District of Mexico,
Our organization has learned from the recent news articles in major
international media outlets about the monument to the late Azerbaijani
dictator and former communist chief and KGB General Heydar Aliyev
erected in one of the Mexico City’s parks.
Mexican public would benefit from knowing that Heydar Aliyev was not a
founder, but a demolisher of modern Azerbaijani democracy. By the time
he came to power in 1993 in a Russian-backed military coup,
overthrowing the democratically elected government of the country,
Azerbaijan was already an independent state for two years. By that
time, Azerbaijan’s independence had long been recognized by the UN and
all major world powers, including Mexico.
What Heydar Aliyev and his cronies have built instead is neo-feudal,
corrupt petro-dictatorship where the throne (`presidency’) after his
death was passed to his son Ilham Aliyev.
Under Aliyev dynasty, rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens are
trampled. Journalists, bloggers, dissidents, and civic activists are
regularly beaten, jailed and tortured, some are murdered. Peaceful
protests are violently suppressed by police and plain-clothed
government agents. All elections are falsified. Just last week, a
secret cam video released online revealed how the seats in the
national parliament are not only selected by the President, instead of
being elected by voters, but also are sold by the regime leadership
for million dollar bribes.
While the vast majority of the population, in spite of Azerbaijan’s
enormous oil revenues, is still poor, Ilham Aliyev’s eleven years old
son owns a $40 million dollar luxury mansion in a Dubai resort.
President Aliyev’s family, through secretive off-shore firms, has
taken control of the country’s largest banks, gold mines, phone
companies, and other enterprises.
These and many other shameful facts about the Aliyev dictatorship are
well-documented in reports by the international media, human rights
organizations and foreign governments, and can be discovered by a
simple Google search. This corrupt, repressive system is the real
legacy of Heydar Aliyev. What he founded is hardly worth of
commemoration in a free society governed by basic moral norms.
Perhaps the government of Mexico City feels obliged to show an
appreciation for the multi-million dollars help provided by the
Azerbaijani authorities. As generous as it may be, that donation is
but a small drop in the bucket of billions stolen by the Aliyev regime
from regular citizens. Therefore, as a sign of gratitude to the
Azerbaijani people, whose money given was given for the renovation of
your parks, I humbly suggest that a simple pole with Azerbaijani flag
along with the statement of appreciation of Mexican-Azerbaijani
friendship would suffice.
Heydar Aliyev was not a noble man that deserves to be honored in
public parks and squares. Having his monument erected in Mexico City
is an affront to the Azerbaijanis that suffer at the hands of his
corrupt dictatorship and it can only be an insult to Mexicans who
value their own nation’s long-established traditions of freedom, human
rights and dignity, and justice.” (Azeri Report)