Baku hosted a meeting of the National Council of Democratic Forces (UPDATED)

2016 September 11 (Sunday) 18:24:30

The National Council rally ended with a speech of the Chairman of the Popular Front Party, Ali Kerimli, who described today's action as the beginning of a new movement.

Noting that representatives of various political parties of the democratic spectrum and different ethnic origins were standing at the rally together, he said they were connected by one purpose to build a free Azerbaijan.

'We say no to corruption, plundering the people, unfair trial and incompetent governance,' he said.

Kerimli said this is a third attempt to hold a referendum since 2002, which aims at the approval of dynastic power. 'For the first time the referendum ensured the continuity of power from father to son, and for the second time - unlimited election of the same President,' he said.

 The finally announced resolution of the rally put forward demands to cancel the anti-democratic referendum, to hold political reforms, to ensure the independence of the courts and the legislature, to carry out fundamental reforms to bring the country out of the crisis, and to raise salaries and pensions in accordance with the devaluation of the manat and the rising prices.

2016 September 11 (Sunday) 18:21:03

A member of the movement NIDA, Ulvi Hasanli, called the government policy against the democratic youth deeply wrong: 'The authorities, arresting young activists, think that will save them, but in fact they just accelerate their own collapse this way.'

He called on to stop repression, release political prisoners and stop pressure on the society for the sake of rescuing the nation.

2016 September 11 (Sunday) 18:10:17

'I am sure that if people rally, despotism will not be able to withstand it,' said a member of the National Council Gultekin Hajiyeva, noting that the people of Azerbaijan proved it in 1918, creating a democratic republic.

She gave the example of democratic Georgia, to which the EU has opened visa-free regime, while Azerbaijan is sinking in a swamp of corruption.

2016 September 11 (Sunday) 18:01:39

A member of the National Council of Democratic Forces Vidadi Mirkamal called on citizens at the rally to oppose the referendum on changes to the Constitution that provide for the introduction of a seven-year presidential term, the president's right to dissolve parliament, reduction of the mandatory age for a presidential candidate to 18 years, and others. 'These changes serve the interests of one family,' he said.

Mirkamal called on to cancel the referendum and to boycott it, if it takes place.

'We want people not to be robbed. We want the liberation of our lands and not the false negotiations, which have lasted for 25 years,' another member of the National Council Eldaniz Guliyev, said from the podium.

He spoke in defense of morality trampled by the authorities and condemned the arrests of known theologians.

2016 September 11 (Sunday) 17:37:11

Observers note the current rally is comparable in the number of participants and the atmosphere with the protest rallies of the National Council in 2013.

According to initial estimates, it involves more than 10,000 people.

There are many social and political slogans hoisted: We Young People Say No, End Dictatorship and Monarchy. Freedom for Azerbaijan, Salary is 105 Manats - Education is 4,000, We Are Not Slaves, Azerbaijan Is Country of Monopolies, Support Truthful - Curse Thief, Freedom to Political Prisoners, etc.

In the current rally there is a significant number of believers, who are holding photos of the arrested members of the Muslim Unity movement. 

2016 September 11 (Sunday) 17:08:54

A rally of the National Council of Democratic Forces started at the stadium Mahsul in Baku at 17:00.

The two-hour meeting will be held under the slogan No to Referendum on Changes to Constitution!

The authorities previously allowed the opposition to hold the rally. -0--