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Secret Videos Threaten Top Aide Of Azerbaijani President

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  • Secret Videos Threaten Top Aide Of Azerbaijani President

    SECRET VIDEOS THREATEN TOP AIDE OF AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT

    http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3856&Ite mid=48
    By Shahin Abbasov, Eurasianet.org

    BAKU. January 30, 2013: A series of videos depicting graft inside the
    halls of power in Azerbaijan could have serious implications for one
    of the country's most influential officials, 74-year-old presidential
    Chief of Staff Ramiz Mehdiyev.

    The scandal, known as Gulargate, erupted last September when the
    former rector of Baku's now-closed International University, Elshad
    Abdullayev, published an online video showing himself discussing the
    $2-million price tag for a seat in parliament with Gular Ahmadova, an
    MP for the governing Yeni Azerbaijan Party and her assistant, Sevinj
    Babayeva. Abdullayev is said to have secretly recorded the video in
    2005. It appears to implicate Ahmadova in the sale of parliamentary
    seats, and seems to identify Ramiz Mehdiyev as a beneficiary.

    Abdullayev, now a political refugee in France, has since published
    10 more videos that purportedly reveal widespread corruption in
    Azerbaijan's executive branch, judiciary system and law-enforcement
    agencies. All of them place Mehdiyev in an unfavorable light. Some show
    Abdullayev negotiating for the return of the $2 million after he lost
    the 2005 parliamentary elections; others document his negotiations
    with a Supreme Court judge and Interior Ministry mediators about
    bribes and a ransom for the release of his brother, Mahir, a senior
    official at the Ministry of National Security, from kidnappers.

    In interviews with Azerbaijani media outlets, Abdullayev has pledged to
    release about 800 more such videos during the run-up to Azerbaijan's
    October presidential elections. His aim, he claims, is to find out
    what happened to his brother, who was kidnapped in 2003, and whose
    whereabouts remain unknown.

    But local experts and politicians believe that Abdullayev's real aim
    is to undermine Mehdiyev. And some suspect that he isn't acting alone.

    A patriarch of Azerbaijani politics and an important ideologist
    for the incumbent administration, Mehdiyev is widely seen as one
    of the most powerful public figures in Azerbaijan after President
    Ilham Aliyev. A former Communist Party ideologist, he has been a
    top presidential aide for nearly 18 years, beginning under Ilham
    Aliyev's father, Heydar. Aside from his executive-branch role,
    Mehdiyev wields considerable influence over legislative matters,
    law-enforcement agencies and the country's regional administrations.

    Mehdiyev repeatedly has denied involvement in the bribery schemes
    discussed in the videos, and dismissed Abdullayev as a "criminal"
    with a reputation for "selling diplomas." As yet, he has not been
    questioned by investigators.

    President Aliyev has not yet commented publicly on the scandal. But
    political analyst Elhan Shahinoglu, director of the Baku-based Atlas
    research center, predicts that if more videos appear, Aliyev will
    have to address the issue before Azerbaijan's October presidential
    elections. Following recent riots in the town of Ismayili and protests
    in Baku over perceived abuses of power, the government, arguably,
    must tread gingerly in an election year.

    "Honestly, even if Ilham Aliyev wins a third term in October, I do
    not see Ramiz Mehdiyev in his administration after it [the election],"
    Shahinoglu said.

    At the same time, law-enforcement agencies are unlikely to make
    Medhiyev the subject of a corruption investigation while he remains
    in office, Shahinoglu added.

    Economist Natik Jafarly, one of the leaders of the opposition group
    REAL, is among those who don't believe that Abdullayev, a man not
    known as being a trailbazer for transparency, is acting alone. "I do
    not think that Elshad Abdullayev is just an angry person who lost his
    brother, university and lots of money. ... It is a political process."

    The Public Chamber, a mainstream group which unites the country's
    two largest opposition parties, Musavat and the Popular Front Party
    of Azerbaijan, does not conceal that the videos will be a focus of
    their upcoming presidential campaign.

    Who exactly stands to gain from any fall from power by Mehdiyev
    remains an open question.

    Opposition-linked Azerbaijani media have speculated that the videos'
    release could be tied to First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva's relatives,
    who form the backbone of the influential Pashayev clan. The group has
    interests in several important financial sectors, including banking
    and insurance.

    Jafarly suggested that Pashayev's involvement in the scandal stretched
    the limits of credibility, given that the videos, viewed collectively,
    paint an unappealing picture of Azerbaijan's ruling elites. "[I]t is
    like shaking a boat in which they are all sitting," he commented.

    "Abdullayev's videos are harming not only Ramiz Mehdiyev's reputation;
    they show how corrupt the whole government and the system are."

    In response to the videos' appearance, the General Prosecutor's Office
    has launched a corruption investigation against Ahmadova, who has lost
    her parliamentary seat and YAP membership, and has been placed under
    house arrest. In addition, a Supreme Court judge, Aghababa Babayev,
    has been fired.

    Ahmadova's assistant, 41-year-old Sevinj Babayeva, died from heart
    failure in an Istanbul hospital in late December - an event that only
    intensified speculation about the scandal. -0- * Shahin Abbasov is
    a freelance reporter based in Baku.




    From: A. Papazian
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