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ARMENIAN LEADER BACKS RE-ELECTION BID OF AZERBAIJAN'S ALIEV
Transitions Online, Czech Rep.
Aug 20 2013
A rally for Azerbaijani opposition presidential candidate Rustam
Ibragimbekov 18 August drew about 3,000 people, even though Baku
city officials ordered it to be held 10 kilometers (six miles) from
downtown, according to AFP.
Demonstrators called for a free and fair process at the 9 October
election, which incumbent Ilham Aliev is expected to win easily.
Several participants were detained by police.
In early August the National Council of Democratic Forces, an
opposition coalition, nominated Ibragimbekov, an Oscar-winning
screenwriter. He fled abroad earlier this year. Ralliers on Sunday
urged the authorities to enable his return to Azerbaijan to participate
in the election, Caucasian Knot reports. Ibragimbekov has said he fears
being arrested on charges of tax evasion if he returns home and he is
still waiting for the Russian bureaucracy to cancel his citizenship
in that country - he is a dual Russian-Azerbaijani national - in
order to legally contest the presidency, Radio Free Europe reported
earlier this month.
Aliev is drawing support from an unexpected direction - the leader of
Armenia, which remains technically in a state of war with Azerbaijan
over the Nagorno-Karabakh region captured by Armenian forces in the
early 1990s. Aliev's re-election would represent the best hope to
resolve the conflict, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in a
statement cited by Radio Free Europe.
Sargsyan said Aliev has the best chance of overcoming "Armenia-phobia"
in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani officials have mooted a military solution to
the conflict if the slow-moving, internationally moderated negotiations
fail to bear fruit, RFE writes.
Transitions Online, Czech Rep.
Aug 20 2013
A rally for Azerbaijani opposition presidential candidate Rustam
Ibragimbekov 18 August drew about 3,000 people, even though Baku
city officials ordered it to be held 10 kilometers (six miles) from
downtown, according to AFP.
Demonstrators called for a free and fair process at the 9 October
election, which incumbent Ilham Aliev is expected to win easily.
Several participants were detained by police.
In early August the National Council of Democratic Forces, an
opposition coalition, nominated Ibragimbekov, an Oscar-winning
screenwriter. He fled abroad earlier this year. Ralliers on Sunday
urged the authorities to enable his return to Azerbaijan to participate
in the election, Caucasian Knot reports. Ibragimbekov has said he fears
being arrested on charges of tax evasion if he returns home and he is
still waiting for the Russian bureaucracy to cancel his citizenship
in that country - he is a dual Russian-Azerbaijani national - in
order to legally contest the presidency, Radio Free Europe reported
earlier this month.
Aliev is drawing support from an unexpected direction - the leader of
Armenia, which remains technically in a state of war with Azerbaijan
over the Nagorno-Karabakh region captured by Armenian forces in the
early 1990s. Aliev's re-election would represent the best hope to
resolve the conflict, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in a
statement cited by Radio Free Europe.
Sargsyan said Aliev has the best chance of overcoming "Armenia-phobia"
in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani officials have mooted a military solution to
the conflict if the slow-moving, internationally moderated negotiations
fail to bear fruit, RFE writes.