Mehdiyev Accuses US of "Color Revolution"

The head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Ramiz Mehdiyev made a next article, where he again attacked the civil society institutions that receive foreign aid, and accused the West of an effort to overthrow the ruling regimes, including in Azerbaijan.

The extensive article titled The World Order of Double Standards and Modern Azerbaijan was published by the government agency AzerTaj.

A separate chapter is devoted to a group of NGOs, which Mehdiyev called "fifth column", "employees that advance the interests of the United States."

The United States under the pretext of spreading the ideas of democracy and civil society financed certain forces, using them for "color revolutions" and to overthrow unwanted governments, said Mehdiyev.

According to him, the US is now expanding operations against LIH, although "they themselves contributed to its creation, arming the Syrian opposition."

US State Department initially allocates funds to the Agency for International Development (USAID), which funds the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), which support the opposition activities against national governments.

In addition to USAID and NED, local NGOs are directly funded by representatives of international organizations in Azerbaijan.

The purpose of this scheme is the formation of the "fifth column". US taxpayers' money is spent to prepare a change of power or force the government to comply with the American administration, says Ramiz Mehdiyev.

Referring to the study by the New York political scientist Eric Dreiser (known for his anti-American stance), Mehdiyev comments on the activities of the Center for Monitoring Elections and Democracy Studies (CMEDS) headed by Anar Mammadli.

Mehdiyev believes that the US prepared and financed CMEDS for only one purpose - to prepare a "color revolution" in Azerbaijan.

Recent innovations in the legislation in Azerbaijan are aimed at preventing such activities and increasing the transparency of NGOs. Until now, they were not clear, said Mehdiyev.

"There is corruption and money laundering, and not only in Azerbaijan, but also in Western countries," said the head of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan.

Next he calls specific NGOs, in whose activities violations have been identified: Center for National and International Studies, the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and others.

Mehdiyev names the sum of grants received from foreign donors by NGOs in recent years.

So NED funded AZN 2.8 million on 83 agreements, NDI funded 12 agreements - 0.5 million manat, IREX - 35 agreements - 900 000 manat, Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation) - 625 agreements - 7.6 million manat.

Moreover, several NGOs were allocated funds in cash, and a considerable number of grants were not recorded.

According to Mehdiyev, foreign donors, funding organizations, forced them to grossly violate the Azerbaijani laws and used them against the Azerbaijani state.

Mehdiyev classifies the fifth column as "radical opposition" and expresses the fiasco of the National Council.

He also criticized the media. According to Mehdiyev, Radio Azadlig organizes "anti-Azerbaijani programs distributing delusional statements." He personally mentioned "anti-state" activities of Khadija Ismail and the channel Meydan TV, who are involved in "blackening" the government of Azerbaijan.

However, Mehdiyev indicates that the rapid socio-economic development deprives the "fifth column" of a broad area for action.

"The organized openly lying articles about the alleged fight within the government, attempts to oppose each other officials in order to weaken the power again evidence of misery and political illiteracy," believes Mehdiyev. -16D06-