Chairman of National Council: Crisis Deepens More

The Chairman of the National Council of Democratic Forces Jamil Hasanli in an interview with the Chetin Sual (Difficult Question) column talked about the session of the National Council, the crisis of the society, political prisoners and mass protests.

"It was one of the regular sessions of the National Council. According to some subjective factors the session was not held for several months. Conducting the session is based on the requirements of the Charter of the National Council," the Chairman of the National Council Jamil Hasanli said in connection with the National Council session on June 4.

According to him, the session assessed the socio-political situation in the country, as well as organizational issues. According to the requirement of the Charter, there was re-election of the Chairman of the National Council and the Coordination Council. At the session there were lawyers and economists who have a scientific title and are really familiar with the socio-political life of the country. "There was quite a detailed discussion of the crisis still ongoing, and the result was an appeal to the nation, in which all the questions discussed at the session were recorded."

According to Hasanli, there was a call for people's activity. The economic and social situation has seriously deteriorated and the government wants to get out of the crisis at the expense of its people. Wages, pensions and benefits have sharply reduced. Things have reached the point that people begin to steal bread. "That is, there is no such scope or areas where investment would not not sharply reduce. All this was reflected in the document," said Jamil Hasanli.

The document speaks of the Karabakh conflict. According to Hasanli, a lot of attention was paid to the issue of political prisoners. "On the one hand, specific political prisoners are released, but on the other hand, their place is filled with others. The arrest of political prisoners is planned in such a way that they all are accused of serious crimes that do not fall under the amnesty."

Jamil Hasanli noted that young people are arrested on the same articles and then are also freed. Only Ilkin Rustamzadeh is still under arrest. According to Hasanli, the government and law enforcement agencies have to clarify this issue - because Ilkin Rustamzadeh's guilt is not heavier than the guilt of those pardoned.

The Chairman of the National Council also referred to the arrest of the Deputy Chairman of PFPA Fuad Gahramanli, calling him an activist of social networks. "It is openly written that the accusation against him is based on Gahramanli's nine articles on Facebook. Now they arrest for articles and opinions." He writes that Asif Yusifli, a veteran of the Karabakh war, is arrested. His services are not only ignored, but on the contrary, the first-group disabled man was reduced to the second-group one. "How can the authorities make the youth believe their calls to show patriotism after this? This man was arrested only for the fact that he entered the leadership of Azerbaijan Popular Front Party," Hasanli said.

On the issue of political prisoners, it is one of the main directions of activity of the National Council, which has never shown indifference to any political prisoners. The National Council has been active in the political prisoners issue, establishing relations with international organizations. The National Council is a body that consistently monitors the issue of political prisoners. "We believe that the number of political prisoners in the country is about a hundred people. However, for some reason, some human rights activists do not consider the Islamists under arrest as political prisoners. Truly, we do not share some of their (Islamic) views and positions, but this does not mean that we should be indifferent to their arrest on false charges," Hasanli said.

The Chairman of the Muslim Unity Movement Taleh Bagirzadeh is a member of the National Council. Last year, in connection with the Nardaran events, vicial persecution of the Islamists was staged. "This force was not controlled from outside, and the state flag of Azerbaijan hovered above them. These people are subjected to torture, and we cannot ignore that. The people are arrested on trumped up charges. Thus, Taleh Bagirzadeh and members of his organization are classified as political prisoners.

The Chairman of the National Council reported on his meeting with the ambassadors of 20 countries of the European Union on May 26. According to him, the meeting was quite productive. One of the main discussions was the state of the process of European integration and the activities of the National Council in this direction. They also discussed in detail issues of political prisoners, the Karabakh problem and the attitude to the reforms.

Jamil Hasanli also commented on mass actions, recalling the NC actions in 2014-2015. On December 21, 2015 after the devaluation, without any intervention of the National Council, the people themselves took to the streets to protest.

"Now the situation is even more critical, with unemployment, loss of purchasing power by the pensioners, and the soaring prices. The steps taken by the government are not effective. On the contrary, the crisis is deepening even more, so the situation in the fields of finance, social and economic spheres looks very bad. Of course, it will be impossible to do without mass actions," Hasanli said. -0—