Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

[Armanen]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

I bet that the so called opposition in Armenia would declare that azerbaijan is ahead of Armenia, democratically speaking, if the azeris were to topple aliyev.

[Joseph]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

I bet that the so called opposition in Armenia would declare that azerbaijan is ahead of Armenia, democratically speaking, if the azeris were to topple aliyev.

Probably and in doing so would give more legitimacy to Azerbaboonistan.

[Armanen]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

Probably and in doing so would give more legitimacy to Azerbaboonistan.

This is what is meant, when Armenian and others, call the people who support the opposition, 'self destructive peasantry'.

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

Riot Police Break Up Protest In Downtown Baku
April 2, 2011 - 11:48am, by By RFE/RL
Azerbaijan
A EurasiaNet Partner Post from: RFE/RL
BAKU -- Dozens of opposition supporters have been arrested in the Azerbaijani capital as they tried to stage an antigovernment rally in downtown Baku.

Protesters were holding placards reading "We want freedom," "Ilham, go away," and chanting for President Ilham Aliyev's "resignation" from office.

Police shut down the central Fountain Square and roads leading to the square were blocked by police buses, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service correspondents report from Baku.

Hundreds of protesters gathered near the square before security services cleared the area.

The police, firing rubber bullets and tear gas and armed with batons, arrested protesters as they tried to reach Fountain Square, including women, and forced them into buses.

Our correspondents saw police officers spraying tear gas through the bus windows into the detained activists' faces.

Police tried to restrict the movements of journalists covering the developments around the square. At least one journalist was briefly detained by security forces, our correspondents report from the scene.

Denied Permission

Today's rally was organized by the Public Chamber umbrella opposition group. The group had applied for a permit to rally in the central square, but the request was denied. They were told to rally at a location on the city's outskirts.

City police officials told the local APA news agency on April 1 that opposition leaders and protest organizers were summoned and told to hold their rally only in the designated area.

Interior Minister Ramil Usubov called on people not to take part in what he described as the "radical opposition's unsanctioned demonstrations."

Several opposition activists have been arrested in recent days and access to the opposition website Azadliq was blocked.

International Condemnation

The arrests have drawn condemnation from human rights groups.

In a statement issued on April 1, the New York-based Human Rights Watch advocacy group said the arrests of opposition activists were "the government's latest attempt to prevent the type of protests in North Africa and the Middle East from spreading to Azerbaijan."

Rachel Denber, acting director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division, added, "It is clear that the authorities are determined to crush any attempts by opposition activists to gather peacefully.

"The government is using the flimsiest pretexts to silence critics," Denber said. "It is making a mockery of Azerbaijan's justice system. These arrests should stop immediately."

Amnesty International and the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijani have also said expressed concerns over government crackdowns on opposition leaders and rights activists.

Which Way Will Opposition Go?

Inspired by popular uprisings in Arab countries, Azerbaijani opposition leaders said today more antigovernment rallies would be held in the future.

Ali Kerimli, the leader of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, told RFE/RL that despite police pressure "people could express their protest" today.

Musavat Party leader Isa Qambar said Baku residents joined the rally, and this "proved our predictions that the April 2 protest wasn't going to be only an opposition protest, it appeared to be a protest by all the people."

Officials, however, say it is unlikely that popular revolts will take place in Azerbaijan.

Ali Hasanov, head of the presidential administration's social and political affairs department, told local media that no more than a few hundred would join the opposition rallies.

"Once opposition activists tried to become like Georgians, Ukrainians, or Kyrgyz, but couldn't. Now they have decided to become like Arabs," Hasanov said. "It all shows how miserable the Azerbaijani opposition is."

He said the opposition should try to compete in the planned 2013 presidential election instead.

The oil-rich Muslim country is a key energy supplier for Europe. President Ilham Aliyev came to power in 2003 after succeeding his father, Heydar Aliyev, who ruled the country for a decade.

Aliyev's government is widely criticized for a lack of democratic reforms, corruption, cronyism, and clampdowns on opposition and free speech.

Editor's note: written by Farangis Najibullah and Arife Kazimi, with reporting from RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/63211

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

Azerbaijan A Model of Tolerance — Aliyev
April 7, 2011 - 1:43pm
Azerbaijan Democratization Ilham Aliyev religious freedom
A EurasiaNet Partner Post from: RFE/RL
BAKU -- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said today his country can serve as an example to the world of national and religious tolerance, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.

Addressing the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku, Aliyev said "everyone lives like one family in Azerbaijan. No national or religious confrontations or misunderstandings have existed here. We give preference to ensuring national and religious tolerance in Azerbaijan at the state level."

Some 435 people from 20 countries are participating in the forum, which lasts until April 9.

Attendees at the forum include Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe President Mevlut Cavusoglu, Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) Director-General Abdulaziz bin Osman al-Tuveycri, and former Council of Europe Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer.

The Baku forum is an initiative of the Azerbaijani government with the support of the Council of Europe, the North-South Centre, UNESCO, the UN Alliance of Civilizations, and ISESCO.

Despite President Aliyev's claims, however, Azerbaijan's record regarding ethnic and religious tolerance is not spotless.

Azerbaijan has had problems with some of its minority ethnic groups, For example, the Lezgin, Talysh, and Avar minorities complain periodically of being forcibly assimilated by state officials.

Aliyev also did not mention in his speech the ethnic conflict between Azerbaijanis and Armenians that centers on the dispute over the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is controlled by Armenians.

In February 1988, outraged Azerbaijanis responded to Armenian calls for the transfer of the then-Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Soviet Union to Armenian jurisdiction by killing dozens of Armenians in a three-day rampage in the coastal city of Sumgayit.

Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians fled Azerbaijan during the six-year war over Karabakh, while similar numbers of Azerbaijanis fled Karabakh and adjoining regions of Azerbaijan that were taken by Armenian forces.

Additionally, in the past decade, authorities in the Azerbaijani exclave of Naxcivan have been accused of destroying ancient Armenian cemeteries.

The U.S. State Department wrote in its most recent Religious Freedom report that Azerbaijan enforces "legal restrictions on religious freedom" that include bans on "the call to prayer in some areas." It says the government has also demolished and closed mosques, raided religious communities, and confiscated religious literature.

It said Jehovah's Witnesses and unsanctioned Muslim groups "were often targets" of harassment.

Meanwhile, the Baku-based opposition group Republican Alternative today quoted Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland as saying in a letter to Aliyev last month that the "intercultural dialogue" at the Baku forum would benefit Azerbaijanis only if Cavusoglu's participation results in the release of jailed Azerbaijani journalist Eynulla Fatullayev.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has ordered that Fatullayev, who international rights groups say is being held on trumped-up charges because of his political activities, be released and paid compensation by the government.

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/63245

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

Azerbaijani human rights activist has confirmed the U.S. State Department data on torture in Azerbaijan
Report Data U.S. State Department's human rights situation in Azerbaijan coincide with ours, "- said the news agency" Salamntyuz chairman of the Azerbaijan National Committee against Torture Elchin Behbudov.

He noted that over the past year led them to committee received 169 complaints in connection with the facts of torture in Azerbaijan. "We will forward the appeal to the relevant structures: the Ministry of Internal Affairs, National Security and others. There are responsible, that fact is not confirmed. We receive many complaints, even from the Ministry of Transport. The investigation of these facts - the duty of the relevant law enforcement bodies ", - he said.

On the issue of sources of data the U.S. State Department, Behbudov said: "Here, carry out activities of various international organizations, including the U.S. Embassy. It is even possible, the data obtained from the media. "

Yesterday the U.S. State Department published a report on the situation in the world with human rights in 2010 in the section dealing with Azerbaijan, there is restriction on freedom of speech and assembly, political parties and the rights of citizens to peacefully change their government. It is also noted serious situation of corruption, trafficking. According to the report on torture in Azerbaijani prisons as a result only in 2010 killed 7 people. At least 169 people have been tortured in police stations and prisons in Azerbaijan.

In the deplorable conditions in prisons and camps, as well as the content of the prisoners in the basement without food or sleep in order to obtain from them the necessary evidence, but in 2010, died in custody 106 persons, which is 19% more than in 2009 Mr.

Panorama.am

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[ninetoyadome]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

Turkish newspaper Taraf: "The dictator Ilham Aliyev will run away from the country"
Turkish journalist of the newspaper Taraf "Ahmed Altan, the material on the protests in Baku on April 17, placed on the front page of the newspaper Taraf and accompanied by a photograph of 5-year participant shares writes that a wave of revolutions in the Middle East will reach Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev will flee the country.

"During the protests of Azerbaijanis, inspired by escalating in the Middle East demands" freedom "and attempting to overthrow dictators, police arrested screamed" Freedom! "5-year-old girl and her mother. Full horror of individual 5-year-old girl showed all the world's news agencies and television channels. Arrest shouting "Freedom" a child will not save the dictator Aliev - Turkish newspaper, adding that the age of the dictators is over and soon the country will escape the "friend and brother" of the Turkish-Azerbaijani dictator.

/ Panorama.am /

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[Mos]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

ahaha, this so funny....

MP regrets international criticism of rights in Azerbaijan

Thu 21 April 2011 11:13 GMT | 7:13 Local Time
Text size: bigger smaller
50715
Rabiyyat Aslanova
The head of parliament's human rights committee has accused the international community of failing to appreciate democratic reforms in Azerbaijan.

"The attitude of some international organizations towards the ongoing processes in our country does not reflect the reality.This attitude causes discontent among Azerbaijani citizens," Rabiyyat Aslanova said, commenting on remarks by EU officials on restrictions on freedom of assembly in the country.

Aslanova said there were no problems in Azerbaijan in terms of protection of human rights, freedom of speech and expression adding that these issues were regulated by law.

"It should be noted that Azerbaijan’s laws in this sphere meet European standards. The Council of Europe's Venice Commission has also provided positive feedback on these laws. In this respect, the laws on freedom of expression, speech and assembly are in conformity with international conventions. So, one can say with confidence that all conditions are in place to ensure freedom of expression in Azerbaijan."

The human rights committee chair said some international organizations failed to appreciate the situation in the country.

"These organizations claim there are problems in Azerbaijan, failing to appreciate the essence of the democratic reforms in the country. The attitude of influential European organizations in this regard is very regrettable," Aslanova said.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule issued a statement on Monday expressing increasing concerned at "domestic developments in the Republic of Azerbaijan regarding freedom of assembly and expression".

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

this is human rights at its best right here

damn that little girl and her anti-azeri statements. What right does she have for demanding freedom?
you guys do know he means Armenia right, when he said "...they get there orders from outside the country"?

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

After a controversial interview with Ilham Aliyev, «Euronews», foreign journalists banned from asking "uncomfortable" questions
Several foreign journalists have applied for a visa at the Embassy of Azerbaijan abroad, suddenly faced with the tightening of the regime. " So, journalists are invited to submit material which they have written so far about Azerbaijan. If there is criticism of Azerbaijan, the visa is issued or becomes significantly more complicated.

According to the news agency Turan, told about it wished to remain anonymous well-known Western journalist, who faced a similar problem. He named another prominent journalist, who "interrogated" in one of the Azerbaijani embassy for loyalty to the current authorities of Azerbaijan, to the forthcoming visit to the country, about the specific plans and about the people with whom the journalist wants to meet.

"All this is rather silly and ridiculous. In the 21 th century, you can sit in Australia and conduct interviews in London, Moscow and Baku. Watch a live broadcast via the Internet is happening at the other end of the earth. Therefore, such a selection and restrictions for journalists, nothing will. Conversely, if we come to Azerbaijan, we highlight the views of all parties - government and opposition. If the authorities think that by doing so, they can prevent the negative or critical publications, they are profoundly mistaken. The last case with the five-year girl, who was arrested at the rally, a bright example. Foreign journalists were not there, but the whole world saw this shame, "- said the journalist.

"The only thing which will achieve the Azerbaijani authorities is that in our publications will not be their views, comments of the authorities who do not want to see us. I do not think that it is beneficial to your authorities ", - said the Western correspondent.

As noted by news in the recent opposition rally interest in the world press in Azerbaijan has increased. However, the government of the republic is clearly not happy about this interest and the expulsion earlier this week the Swedish crew a prime example. Recall that two Swedish journalists and their assistants were arrested April 17 during a crackdown by police Baku Azerbaijani opposition protests in Baku. Despite having had the Azeri visa journalists were deported from the republic.

As noted by news, the tightening of the visa regime has happened before, after a controversial interview with Ilham Aliyev, the channel "Euronews", when the President of Azerbaijan asked about the violations of democracy, the monarchy and the violation of human rights and freedoms of citizens. After this incident, foreign reporters applying for an interview to Ilham Aliyev, was forbidden to ask questions on these topics.

"In addition, the authorities of Azerbaijan have made for themselves a list of international structures and organizations, with which they refuse to meet or be interviewed because of their records and reports is a critique of Azerbaijan. If it goes on, then representatives of the Foreign Ministry and the presidential administration will have to give interviews only AzTV "- says Turan.

/ Panorama.am /