The economic crisis in Azerbaijan is a result of suppression of fundamental freedoms

The systemic crisis in Azerbaijan goes hand in hand with growing criticism of international organizations in the field of human rights, freedom of expression.

To reports of the Human Rights Watch, Reporters without Borders, which the government calls biased, added the report of the UN Committee on Human Rights, which has sharply criticized the policy of the Administration of President Ilham Aliyev. Recent reports in this area and the ongoing deepening crisis of the economy, as well as the disintegration of Aliyev"s team show the deep connection between the crisis of freedoms and human rights and the situation in Azerbaijan.

Most experts, primarily economists, explain the reasons of the strongest systemic crisis in recent history of the country with wrong policies of economic diversification, presence of monopolies, corruption, and overall mismanagement of the so-called "national" economy of the country.

Of course, all these factors exist and require attention of the professionals and the public; but still the main cause of the crisis should be sought in total violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms, which are basic and guiding factors in the formation of successful state policies in all spheres.

The fact that the systematic suppression of non-governmental institutions of civil society, including the media, NGOs, political parties, first of all, has led to the destruction of the system of public discussion in the "state + community" format of various aspects and directions of domestic and foreign policy, and secondly to the loss of public control over the state. As a result, the whole state policy was riddled with voluntarism in decision-making at an unprecedented scale of corruption, and public institutions have been re-subordinated to the interests of the officials.

This development of history, is not common in Azerbaijan, and is a clear manifestation of the laws of demoralization of political power in the absence of control mechanisms on the part of the opposing community of civil institutions. We can say with confidence that the absence of any public control over the most democratic government in the world on the part of mass media, public associations and citizens individually, will inevitably lead to its degradation and usurpation of power.

The Republic of Azerbaijan and other and similar state systems have become hostages of the last large-scale crises, for this reason, and the way out of the crisis cannot be achieved through a variety of purely economic and legal solutions. Such steps will only reduce the degree of pressure of the crisis on the state, but they are not able to solve it radically, as any decisions to be taken without public debate and civil control will produce following wrong decisions, and as a result, crises.

President Ilham Aliyev in the dosage form periodically sends signals to the public on the preparation of future reforms. But all his "actions without a dialogue" regarding freedom of expression, human rights, do not leave hopes for the country's exit from the crisis, and moreover, they signal its deepening, worsening the living standards of the entire population, the weakening of the military, political and economic potential of the country. The reforms in Azerbaijan announced by him cannot be successful and effective without the restoration of independent media and NGOs that can and should be opponents and at the same time partners of the government.