Gurbanly: Revolution Not Possible via Facebook

The current activity of the various political forces in Azerbaijan due to the fact that this year's presidential election and various political parties are preparing for it. In general, the situation in the country with the socio-political point of view is normal. This opinion was expressed by the deputy executive secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), MP Mubariz Gurbanly in an interview with radio station "Voice of America", commenting on the pre-election situation in the country.

In his view, there are conditions for the holding of free, fair and democratic elections and Gurbanly convinced of victory of the candidate of the NAP, the leader of the party, the current president Ilham Aliyev.

As suggested Gurbanly, Azeri voters will again vote "for the continuing successful policy begun by the great leader Heydar Aliyev."

Commenting on the recent arrests of youth activists, Gurbanly motivated this by the fact that the proponents of "radical opposition" conducted several illegal actions on Fountain Square, although this site is not intended for this purpose.

"If you do not stop violations of the law, it may acquire a chain reaction," said Gurbanly.

As for the activists NİDA, then, according to Gurbanly, "they were arrested during those events or other violations of law."

As for the arrests of the leader of REAL Ilgar Mamedov and the deputy chairman of Musavat Tofig Yagublu, he explained them with "seditious activities" during the riots in Ismailly.

As for the soldiers' deaths, Gurbanly considers "wrong" to draw public attention to this issue through protests.

"The Azerbaijani army has been in trenches for 20 years. The psychological state of the soldiers in trenches and barracks is different. The Azerbaijani army is the strongest in the region, be it in terms of supply or discipline.

Of course, no one can say "yes" to the soldiers' deaths, we all say "no." But is there a need to bring the events to breaking the law?" said Gurbanly.

Referring to discussions in social networks, he said that the government is not afraid of discussions in Facebook, and the Internet in Azerbaijan is completely free.

"I reiterate the position of the NAP, we stand for freedom in social networks," he said.

As to the allegations that the country could face a "Facebook revolution," Gurbanly said that no one can make a revolution in Azerbaijan through Facebook.

"To carry out a revolution in the country, there should be the reasons for unrest and anti-government protests. If there is no reason for this, it is impossible to make revolution through Facebook in the country.

Did participants in the meeting at the Cairo's Tahrir Square gather through Facebook? Most of them did not even know about Facebook and had no access to social networks," continued Gurbanly.

Replying to a question on the reasons for limiting the mandate of the OSCE Office, Gurbanly said that 20 years, the OSCE has been monitoring in Azerbaijan, but given the current situation, it was suggested "only" to review the status of the mission.

"Azerbaijan's democratic development does not lag behind other countries in Eastern Europe," he said.

With regard to the continuation of the National Democratic Institute (NDİ), accused the authorities in the financing of opposition youth organizations, Gurbanly said: «NDI has been working in Azerbaijan and continues its activity. For us NDI is not a source of danger. There has just been made public journalistic investigation of the removal of cash by an employee of NDİ from a bank account and the use of these funds. Office of the Attorney quite rightly asked the U.S. Embassy to inquire. I read the response of the U.S. Embassy, and I think that's not enough. They have to respond to the arguments identified by the investigative journalism. In this matter, there can be no pressure on NDI,» said Gurbanly. 

  On the question of the growth of discontent in the society, Gurbanly said dissatisfaction can take place on a personal level. "However, there is no resentment at that level to lead to some kind of social explosion," said Gurbanly.

"The state would not be a state if it fell apart from a meeting or disorder," said Gurbanly.

He believes that such events are not evidence of weakening power.

"The task of government is to protect its power under the law. The government that can not protect itself will not be able to protect the state and the homeland either," Gurbanly summed up. -03B06-