Azerbaijan continues the tour of “stone diplomacy”: a monument to Azerbaijani poet Huseyn Javid will be installed in Montenegro, the representative of the Research Center for Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) Eliza-Ronald Hannon said at article in the side of “Azeri Report”.
“The Azerbaijani government will pay for the reconstruction of the Royal Park and for the area of the Street where the monument will be installed. Government of Montenegro refuses to present the cost of the project, but says that it is a multimillion project”, says the article.
The author notes that the Azerbaijani government has establish monuments in many countries in recent years, including Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. However, these were monuments to former President Heydar Aliyev. “It seems that this is the new policy of the government: as soon as they receive a friendly attitude in any of European countries they immediately install there Heydar Aliyev’s statue. His monuments are everywhere in Azerbaijan, and now the tradition is exported. This is a continuation of the policy of creation of a cult to the personality of the late president,” says the Azerbaijani blogger Ali Novruzov.
The article notes that one of such statues was in media’s limelight last month, when the Mexico government removed Aliyev’s monument in response to mass criticism. The protestors claimed that tributes of honor paid to authoritarian leader are offensive for them. “It seems that the fear of similar protests forced the Azerbaijani and Montenegrin governments to refuse installment of another statue of Aliyev in favor of a more suitable statue of a poet, Hussein,” says Ronald-Hannon.
As the author notes both Heydar Aliyev and his son Ilham Aliyev, the current president of Azerbaijan, are known for their dictatorial style of government. Heydar Aliyev was a KGB general. He came to power in the Soviet era, and got rid of his opponents in the pretext of fighting against the corruption. “His son, Ilham, who inherited the presidency, was compared with the head of the Mafia by the U.S. diplomatic sources. During his ruling, Azerbaijan was criticized for abusing the human rights, including the practice of arrests of journalists and civil society activists,” the article says.
However, according to the author, the most blatant corruption is characteristic to Aliyev regime. Recent collaborative research OCCRP and “Radio LIberty” showed that the President of Azerbaijan and his clan have amassed considerable wealth through the privatization of state enterprises and secret ownership of stakes in major businesses of the country. In addition, the ruling clan owns property in the Czech Republic.
“Despite all this, the Azerbaijani authorities continue to promote their image of a wealthy and generous neighbor. Formation of the personality cult of Ilham in Azerbaijan, based on the model of his father, worked, and now the process enters into the virtual space,” the article says.
According to the professor of the Washington University, an expert on post-Soviet countries Katie Pierce, the opposition dominated on the online space for many years. “But two years ago, the youth wing of the ruling party decided to become more active in social media,” she said.
Their actions became apparent after OCCRP called Aliyev “corrupt official of the year.” Media organization and media, who wrote about it, were buried with about 6,000 e-mails as a part of an organized campaign.
The author also touched upon Azerbaijan’s intention to establish a resort center in Montenegro. The project costs 4 billion Euros. According to the article, the fact that the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan won the tender remains questionable, as it did not correspond to the basic requirements of the tender. “It is easy to manipulate by money from Azerbaijan,” Milka Tadic said, adding that when the Montenegrin authorities need money, they often ask for Aliyev’s support.
Monument to Heydar Aliyev which was installed in one of the central parks of Mexico City in August 2012 caused bewilderment among the residents. Azerbaijan has spent about $ 5 million on the reconstruction of two parks in Mexico City, after which it was allowed to install a monument there. Several protests were held in the capital of Mexico during which the participants claimed they did not want to see the statue of a dictator, who had ruled thousands of miles away from their country, next to the monuments of their heroes. As a result, statue of the former Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev was deinstalled. At the end of September 2012, in Canada, bust of Heydar Aliyev, installed a year ago, was dismantled too, as the authorities of the Niagara city considered it to be a statue of a dictatorship.
Source: Panorama.am
