
“They did not care about Mehman’s fate at all”
Interview
24 January 2019, 18:02
1928
The electorate of the Azerbaijani opposition, mainly, the radical
wing has been exhausted and its social base has destroyed. The rally organized
by the National Council and the Popular Front Party on January19 once again
proved this fact. Some 2800 people took part in the rally held by all
opposition parties and various organizations close to them.
As was expected, the rally was
badly organized and chaotic. Repeated slogans, populist and trivial challenges,
unfounded accusations, false vows restated for more than 25 years have been
reiterated once again. Although 10 people made speech but no real proposals
were declared, no constructive idea was put forward. No intelligent, well-known
person attended the rally. However, through the social networks and media
outlets sponsored by foreign circles Jamil Hasanli and Ali Karimli, proclaimed
that thousands of supporters were going to attend the rally. As always, soon it
was revealed that they were lying. Thus, nearly 2,800 people joined the rally
at the Mehsul Stadium. However the "leaders” claimed that the stadium was
full and tens of thousands of people were in the rally. Videos and photos taken
from the rally revealed the naked truth.
In addition, despite the calls by
E.Kerimli, J. Hasanli and others the rally was not maintained by the opposition
itself. This is another manifestation of disagreement within the radical
opposition, confrontation, and the fact that "leaders" do not get
along with each other. So the leaders of other parties did not joined the
protest, Kerimli tried to portray himself as the leader of the opposition,
claiming that the rally was organized by his own and gave unbelievable
promises. Thus, attempts by Kerimli and his supporters to build a game through
Mehman Huseynov has failed. This fact has once again demonstrated that citizens
are indifferent to the challenges of radical groups and do not care about them
and there is no social support for radical groups in Azerbaijan.
It should be
noted that as President Ilham Aliyev boosts fight against bribery and
corruption, increases the systemic nature of reforms, those who consider
themselves in the opposition get more aggressive and try to resist in a organized
manner. The rally can also be considered as the first manifestation of
resistance formed against the recent reforms in the country.
Azerbaijani MP Sahib Aliyev answered the questions of "Kaspi” newspaper on the games built on Mehman Huseynov.
- On January 19, the National Council held a rally at the Mehsul Stadium. One more rally is scheduled to be held on January 26. Are these rallies kind of social orders or generally speaking, is there a need for public protests?
- This rally, certainly, is ordered but definitely not by society. Like the establishment of the National Council, the protests stem from geopolitical order. It is the order by those forces that do not want Azerbaijan to be powerful and independent not only in words, but also in action.
-Although the opposition leaders stated that a crowd of people will take part in the rally, but according to official data, a total of 2800 members and supporters of political parties, movements, non-governmental and youth organizations joined the rally . Why citizens are not interested in the rallies? What is the reason for that ?
-Azerbaijani people are well-aware of those who get order from foreign circles to conduct campaigns in the country. In the eyes of society, they are similar with those who are engaged in bribery. Like corruptionists they also do not care about the nation. They organize rallies not to protest against corruption, but because they take bribe from abroad for oragnization this protest. These persons clearly comprehend they hardly possess intellect, skills or experience to reach the position in society they target. However, the worst point is that none of them has a sense of patriotism. This feature makes them attractive for the foreign forces. That's why they are being leaders, journalists, bloggers and human rights defenders. None of them have the leadership quality.
- How do you assess the leader of the Popular Front Party Ali Kerimli and his supporters’ attempts to create a confrontation at the Alley of Martyrs the day after the rally? Is the mentioned approach towards the Alley of Martyrs acceptable in line with political ethics ?
-There is nothing sacred
for Ali Karimli. Everyone knows it and his behavior is beyond moral. In all
probability, you saw the police who were carrying a disabled person on their
arms at the Alleys of Martyrs on January 20. Since his love to his nation and land brought him
to visit the graves of our martyrs, despite that he was not able to walk.
-In my view, Mehman was just angry but not on a hunger strike. The forces that could not keep Azerbaijan under control and dependent on other countries in the region, get angry with it. So they tried to exploit Mehman. They do not care that whether Mehman is hungry or not. If so, over 40,000 people die from hunger each year. They can protest against it too. But they do not need even to mention this.
-A group of human rights defenders, as well as Mehman Huseynov had appealed to the head of state to ensure an objective investigation conducted against Huseynov. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev took the appeals into account and gave recommendations to the General Prosecutor’s Office to conduct an objective investigation of the criminal case, to take all necessary measures provided by law to make a fair and humane decision As a result, a criminal case against Mehman Huseynov has been terminated. How do you assess this ?
-As I emphasized earlier, Mehman was angry but not hungry. He understood that through this kind of meaningless actions he would not accomplish anything and even his brother Emin Huseynov was trying to take advantage of him. Eventually he turned to President Ilham Aliyev. Mr. President also showed humanity towards his citizen. Hopefully, Mehman once again comprehended realities through the latest events. They did not care about Mehman’s fate at all. On the contrary, they wanted Mehman’s condition to be more dramatic. But they could not have achieved it. President Ilham Aliyev showed great humanism. I wish those who supported Mehman’s hunger strike were at least a little bit humanist as Ilham Aliyev is.
Rufik Ismayilov
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