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STRIKING DIFFERENCES OF TWO CIVILIZATIONS
17:49 17/10/2013 " ANALYSIS
Geography and antagonism have become inherent elements between
Armenia and Azerbaijan linking them in a way that it cannot do
without comparisons. In this regard it is intolerable to ignore such
an important event like the presidential elections, especially when
both Armenia and Azerbaijan have held it in the current year.
Elections in Armenia were not perfect, everyone understands that,
however in constructional and juridical sense they were so well
organized and with high quality that no comparisons may be made between
our and the so called elections held in Azerbaijan. A lot of factors
and parameters may be brought to support the above said.
However we will bring some of them. None of the political forces in
Armenia has been persecuted. They have all been free to participate in
the elections, while in Azerbaijan many are exiled from the country and
a group of social and political activists (more than 100 according to
the western organizations) are in jails. Rustam Ibrahibekov's case is
worth mentioning in this context. The latter as a single opposition
candidate was getting ready for opposing Ilham Aliyev, however the
CEC of Azerbaijan rejected his candidacy at the last moment.
The differences are obvious in regard of the resources: If in
Armenia various political forces have more or less equal resources
(administrative, intellectual, financial, political and media), in
Azerbaijan all of this is under the control of one force and this
force is in the President's Residency. Shortly, from the viewpoint
of electoral process and its result the elections held in Armenia
and Azerbaijan are incomparable. Instead, the attitude of the
international community and the reaction of the administration are
fit to be compared.
The behavior of the international community is obvious for both
countries. The factor of political interest is surely not ignored.
However the international community wants to see in two countries
progress in democracy, human rights and social development in general.
The elections in this regard are the best opportunity to assess it, and
that's why observing missions are sent to these countries and process
assessment is carried out. In the case of Armenia the result of the
assessment was mainly positive; however some deficiencies were noted
too. As for Azerbaijan it was noted that those were not elections.
There is an essential factor here to be mentioned. As a rule, OSCE
PA and the Council of Europe sent a short-term observation missions
to member countries. These groups mainly consist of MPs, i.e.
politicians. Usually these missions join the ODIHR and give a joint
assessment. It has been this way in case of Armenia and all other
countries. As for Azerbaijan the MP's had made separate statements
in a style of "God bless Ilham" in the same time contradicting the
ODIHR assessments.
The emotional expressions of Bulgarian and Macedonian MPs do not turn
the Azerbaijani "Disneyland" into elections. However, it is obvious
that the European values gradually degrade under the influence of
oil and caviar. This, naturally, is the problem of Europe and not
Azerbaijan. Europe will lose its grace if it keeps on going in this
way. Anyway, it is also obvious that the elections held in Armenia
and Azerbaijan are incomparable also in regard of assessment of
international observers.
In order to conclude the parallels we are only left to compare the
official reactions of the two countries concerning the assessments of
the elections. To keep the parity I suggest comparing the statements
of the heads of the presidents' staff of the two countries. In both
cases they suggest the approach of the administration.
The head of the President's staff of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan had stated:
"The reports were very close to reality and to the elections held in
Armenia. This speaks about the fact that different and sometimes even
competing observation missions have recorded the same result.
In some cases the observed problems and the assessments coincide. They
are mainly the same, because the government, the RA authorities have
done everything depending on them to push the elections forward by one
more step in this process. I am saying one step, because the democracy
and elections, as a very significant component of it, have no border
after which there is nothing left to change or to do. Thus this was
an important one step forward. The formulation of OSCE/ODIHR report
saying that the elections were held by special attention paid towards
preservation of the fundamental freedoms sounded so dear to me. This
is a very important assessment as the main aim of the elections is
protection of fundamental freedoms. The rest of the shortcomings
may be corrected and we will work on them over time," Vigen Sargsyan
has noted.
Armenia not only admitted the assessment of the observers but also
agreed to cooperate and to correct the existing drawbacks as well
as improving the process. While Azerbaijan was getting ready for
elections, the Armenian president reaffirmed at PACE this approach
and informed about the existence of a corresponding working group.
Here what Vigen Sargsyan's Azerbaijani counterpart Ramiz Mehtiyev
have stated in connection with the ODIHR report:
"According to our sources the election report draft which lacks any
positive episode has been prepared in the Warsaw based office of
that organization. It should be noted that such deceits are aimed at
flaring up tension and provoking negative processes in the Azerbaijani
society. This means that some observers have been prepared to give
negative assessment to the elections in advance. We can only make a
guess what could the real purpose for such hostile attitude be."
Ramiz Mehtiyev in his statement has also accused the U.S., and has
noted that ODIHR is dependent on Washington. "That institution is not
an independent organization at all, it cannot operate by itself. OSCE
works by looking at the USA. Keeping in mind that previously the
OSCE had given a non-objectiv, biased assessment, we were against of
inviting them to Azerbaijan during the presidential elections.
However, the Azerbaijani side invited the OSCE/ODIHR taking into
consideration the factor of U.S. council. The comparison of the
reports of U.S. State department and that of OSCE/ODIHR showed that
these reports were twins. This is the case of obvious trust abuse."
No comments, as they say. We are only left to wait and to see how
the international community will react on Azerbaijan's demarche, for
Mahtiyev has not only accused Washington of trust abuse but also of
"violating the rights of the U.S. citizens." As the imposing politician
has called for not giving a way to emotions and not getting tempted
by the U.S. friendship, it is expected that soon Azerbaijan will turn
its back to the progressive world.
Author, Armen Minasyan
Source: Panorama.am
17:49 17/10/2013 " ANALYSIS
Geography and antagonism have become inherent elements between
Armenia and Azerbaijan linking them in a way that it cannot do
without comparisons. In this regard it is intolerable to ignore such
an important event like the presidential elections, especially when
both Armenia and Azerbaijan have held it in the current year.
Elections in Armenia were not perfect, everyone understands that,
however in constructional and juridical sense they were so well
organized and with high quality that no comparisons may be made between
our and the so called elections held in Azerbaijan. A lot of factors
and parameters may be brought to support the above said.
However we will bring some of them. None of the political forces in
Armenia has been persecuted. They have all been free to participate in
the elections, while in Azerbaijan many are exiled from the country and
a group of social and political activists (more than 100 according to
the western organizations) are in jails. Rustam Ibrahibekov's case is
worth mentioning in this context. The latter as a single opposition
candidate was getting ready for opposing Ilham Aliyev, however the
CEC of Azerbaijan rejected his candidacy at the last moment.
The differences are obvious in regard of the resources: If in
Armenia various political forces have more or less equal resources
(administrative, intellectual, financial, political and media), in
Azerbaijan all of this is under the control of one force and this
force is in the President's Residency. Shortly, from the viewpoint
of electoral process and its result the elections held in Armenia
and Azerbaijan are incomparable. Instead, the attitude of the
international community and the reaction of the administration are
fit to be compared.
The behavior of the international community is obvious for both
countries. The factor of political interest is surely not ignored.
However the international community wants to see in two countries
progress in democracy, human rights and social development in general.
The elections in this regard are the best opportunity to assess it, and
that's why observing missions are sent to these countries and process
assessment is carried out. In the case of Armenia the result of the
assessment was mainly positive; however some deficiencies were noted
too. As for Azerbaijan it was noted that those were not elections.
There is an essential factor here to be mentioned. As a rule, OSCE
PA and the Council of Europe sent a short-term observation missions
to member countries. These groups mainly consist of MPs, i.e.
politicians. Usually these missions join the ODIHR and give a joint
assessment. It has been this way in case of Armenia and all other
countries. As for Azerbaijan the MP's had made separate statements
in a style of "God bless Ilham" in the same time contradicting the
ODIHR assessments.
The emotional expressions of Bulgarian and Macedonian MPs do not turn
the Azerbaijani "Disneyland" into elections. However, it is obvious
that the European values gradually degrade under the influence of
oil and caviar. This, naturally, is the problem of Europe and not
Azerbaijan. Europe will lose its grace if it keeps on going in this
way. Anyway, it is also obvious that the elections held in Armenia
and Azerbaijan are incomparable also in regard of assessment of
international observers.
In order to conclude the parallels we are only left to compare the
official reactions of the two countries concerning the assessments of
the elections. To keep the parity I suggest comparing the statements
of the heads of the presidents' staff of the two countries. In both
cases they suggest the approach of the administration.
The head of the President's staff of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan had stated:
"The reports were very close to reality and to the elections held in
Armenia. This speaks about the fact that different and sometimes even
competing observation missions have recorded the same result.
In some cases the observed problems and the assessments coincide. They
are mainly the same, because the government, the RA authorities have
done everything depending on them to push the elections forward by one
more step in this process. I am saying one step, because the democracy
and elections, as a very significant component of it, have no border
after which there is nothing left to change or to do. Thus this was
an important one step forward. The formulation of OSCE/ODIHR report
saying that the elections were held by special attention paid towards
preservation of the fundamental freedoms sounded so dear to me. This
is a very important assessment as the main aim of the elections is
protection of fundamental freedoms. The rest of the shortcomings
may be corrected and we will work on them over time," Vigen Sargsyan
has noted.
Armenia not only admitted the assessment of the observers but also
agreed to cooperate and to correct the existing drawbacks as well
as improving the process. While Azerbaijan was getting ready for
elections, the Armenian president reaffirmed at PACE this approach
and informed about the existence of a corresponding working group.
Here what Vigen Sargsyan's Azerbaijani counterpart Ramiz Mehtiyev
have stated in connection with the ODIHR report:
"According to our sources the election report draft which lacks any
positive episode has been prepared in the Warsaw based office of
that organization. It should be noted that such deceits are aimed at
flaring up tension and provoking negative processes in the Azerbaijani
society. This means that some observers have been prepared to give
negative assessment to the elections in advance. We can only make a
guess what could the real purpose for such hostile attitude be."
Ramiz Mehtiyev in his statement has also accused the U.S., and has
noted that ODIHR is dependent on Washington. "That institution is not
an independent organization at all, it cannot operate by itself. OSCE
works by looking at the USA. Keeping in mind that previously the
OSCE had given a non-objectiv, biased assessment, we were against of
inviting them to Azerbaijan during the presidential elections.
However, the Azerbaijani side invited the OSCE/ODIHR taking into
consideration the factor of U.S. council. The comparison of the
reports of U.S. State department and that of OSCE/ODIHR showed that
these reports were twins. This is the case of obvious trust abuse."
No comments, as they say. We are only left to wait and to see how
the international community will react on Azerbaijan's demarche, for
Mahtiyev has not only accused Washington of trust abuse but also of
"violating the rights of the U.S. citizens." As the imposing politician
has called for not giving a way to emotions and not getting tempted
by the U.S. friendship, it is expected that soon Azerbaijan will turn
its back to the progressive world.
Author, Armen Minasyan
Source: Panorama.am