AZERI REPORT: IN U.S. AZERBAIJANIS TRICKED THE LOCALS IN HEYDAR ALIYEV’S ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
17:53 06/05/2013 ” SOCIETY
On May 5, many Americans unknowingly celebrated the 90th birthday of a
corrupt foreign communist dictator by attending the “Flower Day” event
hosted in the National Mall in Washington DC by a foreign lobbying
group Azerbaijani-American Alliance (AAA), the Azeri Report says.
According to the article the event was described as a mere “Celebration
of Azerbaijani Culture and Friendship”. AAA clearly and deliberately
misrepresented the facts and hid the real reasons behind the “Flower
Day” festivities from residents and visitors of the US capital,
trying to trick them into celebrating the late Azerbaijani dictator’s
birthday.
It says that the “Flower Day” is established in Azerbaijan as an
official May 10 birthday commemoration for the founder of corrupt
and repressive Aliyev dictatorship, the former communist boss and
KGB general, Heydar Aliyev, who is also the father of the current
president Ilham Aliyev.
But AAA’s announcement of Flower Day celebration in DC mentions
nothing about Heydar Aliyev, to whom the event is dedicated in
Azerbaijan. Instead, it provides false and misleading information,
by stating that “The Azerbaijani holiday of Flower Day occurs in early
May and has been recognized for more than half a century. Flower Day
celebrates the arrival of spring and the spirit of hope and renewal
that blooming flowers represent.”
“The real “arrival of spring and the spirit of hope and renewal” have
been celebrated for centuries in Azerbaijan during the Novruz holidays
in March – at the same time as in many other countries of the region.
The information about Novruz holiday in Azerbaijan can be found easily
on internet, anywhere from Azerbaijani President’s official websites
to AAA’s own Novruz webpage,” the Azeri Report says.
As for the Flower Day, it is marked for Heydar Aliyev’s May 10 birthday
commemoration that started only in the year 2000, not “more than half
a century” ago as AAA states. And it really took off only after his
death in 2003, when his son Ilham Aliyev took over the presidency
in fraudulent elections marred with violent crackdown on peaceful
protests, the article reads.
“Each year, on May 10th, millions of dollars of state funds is spent
on bringing exotic flowers to Baku and organizing lavish displays to
mark the birthday of a long dead founder of Aliyev regime. This is
just one of many expressions of personality cult around the figure
of Heydar Aliyev. The Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences has a whole
department dedicated to “Aliyev Science”. His giant portraits and
statues are present all over country; the country’s largest airport
bears his name, and so do thousands of streets, parks and buildings,”
the article reads.
It is noted that Azerbaijani officials and opportunity seekers at all
levels try to outdo each other in issuing praises and hosting events
in honor of the “Dear Leader” Heydar Aliyev. “This is largely aimed to
please his son, the current head of the corrupt and repressive regime,
Ilham Aliyev. The Azerbaijani government also exerts considerable
efforts and spends large sums to advance this personality cult outside
the country’s borders,” it says.
According to the author of the article, it is not surprising that
a lobbying group like Azerbaijani-American Alliance (AAA) would
promote corrupt Aliyev regime’s personality cult in the US. After all,
AAA is run by Anar Mammadov, the son of the Azerbaijani minister of
transportation Ziya Mammadov, whose name is mentioned as one of the
top corrupt Azeri officials anywhere from Wikileaks diplomatic cables
to international Organized Crime and Corruption reports. AAA funding,
according to FARA records, comes from Ziya Mammadov’s shadowy business
empire “ZQAN Holding”.
“Apparently that money enables them to buy some fun time with US
officials, including the House Speaker John Boehner, among many, and
a favorable PR articles in prestigious US magazines,” the article says.
According to the article apparently, the Aliyev regime suffered major
embarrassments from recent setbacks to its attempts to spread the
Heydar Aliyev personality cult abroad. “It seems that once the truth
about who Heydar Aliyev really was emerges, people in foreign countries
are not so eager to celebrate former KGB general’s birthday and host
his statues, even when paid millions of dollars by the Azerbaijani
government to do so. Perhaps some within the regime in Baku and its
representatives abroad recognize this as well, and they now try to
hide the “shame” of their personality cult “addiction” by disusing it
as innocent May “Flower Day” celebrations of “the arrival of spring”.