Greediness of political figures, warlords and leaders is not a new phenomenon. And in Azerbaijan it is not something new either. However, the extent of this greediness has broken all its limits with the recent changes made in country's constitution regarding unlimited presidential term.
"In all the countries of the world, serving two terms of presidency is enough, but in Azerbaijan it is not enough!" said Ali Kerimli- member of opposition Azadliq block during the meeting on March 1 at Tebriz movie theatre regarding upcoming referendum (March 18th).
Along with Kerimli other opposition members raised their concerns and dissatisfaction with the referendum. Isa Gambar said "it cannot be the will of people to hold the referendum given the country's current situation- financial crisis, rise of unemployment, no resolution reached to the existing conflict over the territory of Nagorno- Karabakh". Prof. Dr. Lala Shovket Hajiyeva called the referendum as an insult to the Azerbaijani people. "How self- assured these people (current leadership) must be that they do not see potential candidates worth of presidency in this country!"
It is strange that nothing has been written regarding this matter on re-opened news portal day.az. In fact, the website has zero entries for any news regarding the meeting. Just to remind you, this portal was shut down on February 16 for 'technical reasons' (or because of project ending or changing management or paying for the commercials advertised on the website) and re-opened on February 26 after being sold to another online news portal Trend.az.
Some of you may have already seen the poster that circulated on the internet and in fact was put up on a billboard on the way to Yevlax (I might be wrong, please correct if I am), which said "Azerbaycan Respublikasinin duneni, bugunu ve geleceyi" (the past, the present and the future of Azerbaijan Republic) depicting late president Haydar Aliyev, current president Ilham Aliyev and young Haydar Aliyev. If the referendum results in victory of a certain other, the poster will have to change saying the following this time: "Azerbaycan Respublikasinin kechmisi, bugunu ve yaxin geleceyi!" (the past, the present and near future of Azerbaijan Republic), but this time instead of young Haydar Aliyev, there will be two pictures of Ilham Aliyev- one in his current age and the other of aged Ilham Aliyev...
I think it's very predictable that day.az has no information about that meeting. It's a business & its owners make business decisions. It was allowed to re-open - but day.az learned its lesson. Nothing remotely controversial will be put on that site.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to see where the hope for Azerbaijan's future lies.
Thanks for your comment Eric, and I agree with you. Unfortunately even media in Azerbaijan has become business oriented, pretty much like everything else.
ReplyDeleteArzu,
ReplyDeleteI am with you on all of your concerns, but come on! What did you expect? All of these are in fact a natural flow of the events. Nothing to be surprised or outraged about.
Thanks Adnan,
ReplyDeleteOh, I am not outraged at all! I am just fed up! And feel utterly useless since there is pretty much nothing to be done! Unless overnight I become this super human with super powers! But that wont be happen!
I AGREE WITH ALL OF YOU. IT IS PREDICTABLE. BUT DO YOU REALLY HAVE FAITH IN OPPOSITION FIGURES LIKE KERIMLI? I THINK HE PROVES THAT THE OPPOSITION HAS NO ONE TO PUT FORWARD TO SERIOUSLY CHALLENGE ALIYEV.
ReplyDeleteAND WHY DO YOU FEEL SO HOPELESS? BY WRITING THIS BLOG YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING. AND MORE CAN BE DONE. MANY PEOPLE THINK THAT WE CAN'T INFLUENCE OUR GOVERNMENT. WE JUST HAVE TO BEG THE WEST TO COME SAVE US. LET'S GET REAL AND GET ACTIVE. NO MORE BEGGING THE WEST. WE CAN DO THINGS OURSELVES.