BRITISH MAGAZINE: ELECTION-RIGGING, TORTURE OF OPPONENTS, CORRUPTION MARKED FAMILY RULE OF BOTH HEYDAR AND HIS SON
17:48 21/02/2013 ” SOCIETY
The Aliyev family has been having its way with the Azerbaijanis for
decades. Heydar Aliyev, the family patriarch, was a Communist Party
boss in the best of Stalinist traditions from the 1960s, and president
of Azerbaijan from 1993 to 2003. His son, Ilham Aliyev came out of
the security apparatus, which left him well positioned to take over
from his father, the New Internationalist says.
“Good contacts in the security apparatus have proved more important
than democratic credentials in much of former Soviet Asia. The
countries of the Caucasus, where Azerbaijan is perched on the western
shores of the Caspian Sea, must walk a thin line between Russia in
the north and the Islamic world further south, while at the same
time making nice with a Europe hungry for oil and gas, and a US
empire obsessed with geo-political positioning. Little wonder the
desires and needs of ordinary Azerbaijanis get lost in the shuffle,”
the paper says.
“Election-rigging, torture of opponents, widespread corruption and
ostentatious displays of power and wealth have marked the family rule
of both Heydar (who died in 2003) and his son,” the magazine writes.
Ilham keeps on top of things today with a slight democratic veneer
for foreign consumption but the name of the game remains the same –
autocratic self-enrichment by a narrow ruling circle. Transparency
International rates Azerbaijan as the sixth most corrupt country in
the world.
“The name of the beneficent Aliyevs is everywhere. If you are lucky
enough to fly to the country’s capital, Baku (a fine old city made
prosperous by petro-dollars), you get to land at Heydar Aliyev
International Airport. While in town you can attend a seminar at the
Heydar Aliyev Heritage Research Center. Then perhaps a visit to the
beautiful $250-million Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center. You get the
idea,” the author says.
According to the author there is no need to go all the way to Baku
to pay homage to the dead dictator. The statues that are popping up
in capitals all over the world – Cairo, Belgrade, Mexico City – have
locals scratching their heads. “Who is this guy, anyway?” wonders
the author.
“Like so many oil-rich places, Azerbaijanis find oil a mixed blessing.
It means a high per-capita income and great potential, if equitable
development policies were in place. But in practice it has meant a
petro-state with all the trimmings: kleptocracy, inequality, boss-type
politics and environmental degradation,” the article says.
According to the article At just over $5,000, the per-capita income is
high for the region, but there is much rural poverty beyond the glitz
of Baku and a large refugee problem (set officially at over 600,000)
– mostly as a result of the war with neighboring Armenia over the
disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ilham’s rule, despite going through the motions of democracy, has
been marked by the absolute repression of anyone calling for the
real thing. Opposition parties have consistently failed to gain
any representation at all running against Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan
Party and his 85-per-cent-plus votes in presidential elections are
typical dictator-style numbers. When the Arab Spring spilled over into
Azerbaijan there were no concessions from Ilham’s government: just a
major clampdown, with some 400 protesters still languishing in prison.
Freedom of the press and internet are now severely restricted and
independent journalists are subject to beatings, imprisonment and
blackmail.
The article also notes that the Aliyevs have always been cunning
players of the nationalist card. In September 2012 Ilham officially
pardoned Lieutenant Ramil Safarov, who had been convicted of murdering
a sleeping Armenian soldier on a 2004 NATO-sponsored language course
in Hungary. “Ilham got the Hungarians to send him home to serve out
the rest of his sentence and promptly granted him not only his freedom
but a promotion to Army Major, back pay and a new flat. Azerbaijani
nationalists were ecstatic, Armenians outraged and the Hungarian
government embarrassed over rumours of a large loan of Azerbaijani
oil money,” New Internationalist says.
Source: Panorama.am
From: A. Papazian