AZERBAIJANI OFFICIAL ON PRESIDENT’S THIRD TERM, HIS DEPUTIES, TIES WITH ARMENIA
Day.az
Dec 3 2012
Azerbaijan
The chief of the Azerbaijani presidential administration has hinted
that it is possible that President Ilham Aliyev will run for the third
term in 2013. Among other issues he touched on the recent appointment
of his four deputies, Azerbaijan’s growing economic potential and the
Azeri-Armenian conflict over Karabakh. Ramiz Mekhtiyev was speaking
within the frames of an international conference called Azerbaijan
2020 – a glimpse into the future held in Baku on 3 December.
Aliyev’s third term?
Amid the growing public interest in the forthcoming 2013 presidential
election it is clear who will lead the country for the next five years,
the News.az news agency quoted the chief of the presidential staff,
Ramiz Mekhtiyev, as saying on 3 December.
The Azerbaijani public is interested in who the president of this
country will be for the next five years. This is a known fact,
Mekhtiyev said. He added that the concept of Azerbaijan’s development
until 2020 makes it possible for interested individuals to draw
appropriate conclusions in this respect.
New appointments
Mekhtiyev commented on the recent appointment of his four deputies,
saying he could see nothing out of the ordinary in this. He added
that the appointments were linked to the agency’s increased workload.
The appointed individuals will remain in their posts. At the same time
they will fulfill their duties as deputy chiefs of the presidential
administration, Day.az quoted Mekhtiyev as saying.
President Aliyev on 29 November signed a decree, appointing Ali Asadov,
Novruz Mamedov, Zeynal Nagdaliyev and Vakhid Aliyev as deputy chiefs
of the presidential administration.
In the meantime, the Turan news agency on the same day elaborated on
the possible reasons behind the appointments.
The introduction of new posts of the deputy chiefs of the Azerbaijani
presidential administration and the appointment of four representative
of the Naxcivan grouping indicates that under the difficult conditions
ahead of the 2013 presidential election, the regime is mobilizing
its forces, Turan reported, describing the appointees as experienced
officers of the presidential administration.
Ali Asadov is a presidential advisor on economic issues; Novruz
Mamedov is the chief of the department of international relations of
the presidential administration; Zeynal Nagdaliyev is the chief of
the presidential administration’s department of work with regional
management agencies and local administrations, and Vakhid Aliyev is a
presidential advisor in military issues and chief of the presidential
administration’s department dealing with defence issues, the agency
said.
So far it is unknown whether Aliyev will try to seek reelection or he
is simply preparing a plan to hand over the leadership to his person.
What is clear is that so far he rules out the possibility of conceding
power to the extrasystemic opposition. This is obvious judging from the
law on political parties, the government’s decision which practically
fully restricts anybody financing the opposition, as well as from the
imposition of high fines for unauthorized street rallies, Turan wrote.
The agency stressed that the appointments could either be related to
the preparations for the upcoming presidential election or plans of
the resignation of the 74-year old Mekhtiyev.
Recent reports speak about his [Mekhtiyev’s] ill health, as well as
plans that he will resign, something that has long been insisted upon
by the Western circles which accused Mekhtiyev of halting reforms
and forming an odious regime in Azerbaijan. As is known, Mekhtiyev
demonstrated his loyalty to Aliyev throughout the latter’s entire
period of governance and was a reliable orchestrator of manipulations
at all presidential and parliamentary elections, the report said.
Azeri-Armenian conflict over Karabakh
A fair settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict will lead
to economic stability, security, cooperation and development in the
region, another report by Day.az quoted Mekhtiyev as saying at the
conference.
It is not by accident that I used the word ?aggression’. This
concept which contravenes fundamental principles and norms, should
be unequivocally condemned by the international community, he said.
In this respect, the leaders of this country [Armenia] keep hiding
the fact that occupation and aggression took place. Today Armenia has
turned into a source of threat to global peace and security. Armenian
leaders turned into pawns of a very dangerous game and perceive their
country as an outpost for other countries in the South Caucasus. They
should realize their responsibility and contemplate the future of
the Armenian people, he said.
Economic achievements
Mekhtiyev went on to praise Azerbaijan’s economic and democratic
achievements over the past years, saying that his country had
succeeded in creating its own economic model. He said that Azerbaijan
significantly decreased the level of poverty and improved welfare of
the people.
The fastest pace of economic development in the world has led to the
growth of Azerbaijan’s regional and global authority and transformed
it into a new geo-economic player, Mekhtiyev said.
Therefore, Azerbaijan created an exemplary model of a new geo-economic
centre of power in the region for the entire world, he said.
Thanks to President Ilham Aliyev’s policy, the average annual
pace of the growth of Azerbaijan’s GDP amounted to 14.2 per cent
in 2003-2011 and 10.7 per cent in the oil sector. In 2003-2011,
the country’s strategic currency reserves grew 25.3 times and the
state budget increased by 16.6 times; the volumes of banking assets –
by 10.4 times, the nominal salary by 5.9 times, the nominal average
monthly pension – by 6.1 times and the level of poverty decreased
from 44.7 per cent to 7.6 per cent, Mekhtiyev said.
Therefore, as it completed the transitional period, Azerbaijan is at
the beginning of a new period in its development against the background
of global and regional challenges, Mekhtiyev said.
He added that the country had also achieved significant progress in
terms of the protection of basic human liberties, democracy and the
development of civil society.
Azerbaijan was the first among the CIS countries to cancel censorship.
At the moment 65 out of 100 people use the internet, which is twice
as many as the worldwide average, he said.
Union of Billionaires
Mekhtiyev criticized the formation of the Azerbaijani diaspora
organization called the Union of Billionaires in Moscow recently,
saying that its members only pursue their own interests and are
unrelated to Azerbaijan’s actual concerns, Turan reported.
I consider that the creation of this union hampers the formation of
[the Azerbaijani] diaspora in Russia. This organization is absolutely
senseless. These people simply pursue their own interests, he said.
[Translated from Russian]