Kerimli: PFPA - Alternative Power to Ruling Regime

On Sunday at the Palace of Culture named after Sattar Bahlulzadeh in the village Amirjan the VIII Congress of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) was held.

The Congress was attended by 358 delegates elected from 65 local organizations of the party.

In 7 regions, as well as in Nakhchivan, the authorities did not allow the regional units of PFPA to hold party conferences and elect delegates for the Congress.

In connection with the participation of over 300 delegates in the Congress it was recognized as eligible.

The accounting report to the participants of the Congress was made by the PFPA leader Ali Kerimli.

He pointed out that in the last 10 years the party was faced with a total pressure from the authorities, arrests of its activists and offices. Despite this the party has survived and maintained the position of "the real opposition."

Kerimli called this idea a main message he wanted to send to the Congress.

He noted that since 2000, that is after the death of the first chairman of the Popular Front Party, Ex-president Abulfaz Elchibey, the party has been subjected to systematic pressure. The aim was the destruction of the party. In this effort, the authorities were assisted by the forces that call themselves opposition.

For 10 years, the party was forced to operate without an office, without even allowing to rent space at their own expense. The last time a year ago, the building, which hosted PFPA, was blown up.

However, according to Kerimli, all the structures of the party run smoothly, like "clockwork."

Among the achievements of the party Kerimli named elimination of misunderstandings between the believers and PFPA. Today, the Popular Front Party and the believers agree on a secular state of law and the recognition of fundamental freedoms.

PFPA is at the forefront of the fight against bribery, corruption and plundering of national wealth and conducts a series of mass protests against these vices.

As Kerimli noted, the Popular Front Party will continue to fight in this direction.

Another main focus of the party is to fight for the liberation of political prisoners.

Kerimli criticized the economic policy of the authorities.

In his view, the economic policy named as "unparalleled" fails, and this happens even earlier than expected by the opposition. Responsibility for this lies with the President and his team.

Referring to the prospects of the party's activities, Kerimli called the party an alternative to the power. Currently, work is underway on a new program of the party, which is expected to take 3-4 months.

Touching upon the parliamentary elections, Kerimli said that due to the lack of even minimal democratic conditions for the election campaign PFPA decided not to participate in it.

At the Congress, welcoming speeches were made by the head of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) Jamil Hasanli, members of NCDF Vidadi Mirkamal and Gyultekin Hajibeyli, the Imam Jamaat of the Juma mosque in Icheri Shahar (the ancient Baku Fortress) Ilgar Ibrahimoglu and others.

After the break, organizational issues were discussed.

For the post of Chairman of the party they nominated Ali Kerimli and a member of PFPA Sahib Kerimli. Since the election of the head of the party was to take place by open vote, S. Kerimli withdrew his candidacy.

Unanimously, A. Kerimli was elected the head of the party. The Congress also formed the Supreme Majlis of 65 people and other bodies of the organization. -05C-