Authorities Want International NGOs to be Pro-Government

Round-table discussion titled: "Adapting the point of view of international organizations and local NGOs on the eve of the presidential election in 2013" was held on Thursday in Baku. The pro-governmental NGO Alliance Cooperation organized the event.

Co-Chair of the Alliance, Yadigar Mammadov, said that the organization he represents wants to become "the voice of civil society”. Activation of civil society in a presidential election year is very important, he said. According to Mammadov, it is necessary to stop the practice of international cooperation "with a specific group of NGOs." "Cooperation should not be monopolized, and should be implemented with all local NGOs," he said, without specifying exactly which NGOs have monopolized the cooperation with international organizations.

Representatives of the Alliance noted that the Azerbaijan elections are monitored by the Azerbaijani representations of the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the U.S. National Democratic Institute. In this regard, the Alliance invites all these structures to cooperate. According to other speakers, it is necessary to form a "common position" on the elections in Azerbaijan.

The Alliance called for international organizations to cooperate not only in the matter of elections, but also in matters of human rights and economic issues. The Alliance wants to attract international frameworks for cooperation. However, representatives of the Alliance did not respond to reporters' questions, citing "agreement" with international structures to decline to answer questions from the press. Turan agency questioned why international organizations are not interested in cooperating with the Alliance, and whether they consider the Alliance a reliable partner. This query remained unanswered. 

The Council of State Support to NGOs recently decided to allocate grants to international institutions that are actively involved in the elections. -05C04-