Participants of the rally: Let Ilham Aliyev explain his offshore accounts (UPDATED)

"Ilham Aliyev will not be able to win a representative of intellectuals in the elections. If the authorities speak of a fair fight, let them hold free elections and let's see who will win, " said in his speech at the meeting the head of the party "Open Society", Sulhaddin Akbar.

The head of the Popular Front Party, Ali Kerimli, said that the National Council is represented by all structures of society, and Rustam Ibrahimbayov was nominated as a single candidate.

"We demand free and fair elections. If the elections were fair, the authorities would not dare to say that the houses of 60,000 more citizens will be demolished," said Kerimli.

According to him, the present regime is destroying the education and health of the country, robbing the people's wealth. He noted the need to change the situation in the country, but the NCDF will do it peacefully.

After that, the young protesters began to chant slogans "Ilham go away!".

Every time when these slogans were heard, the electricity in the stands was disconnected.

The rally ended with the adoption of the resolution demanding: to ensure conducting of free and fair elections, release of political prisoners, and to create conditions for the return of Ibrahimbayov, and nomination him as a candidate for the presidency.

The resolution also demands from the President an explanation about offshore companies of his family members, and to punish corrupt officials to stop the violation of property rights.

During the rally, police officers detained a group of women, soldiers' mothers, whose children were killed in the army in non-combat conditions. They were put into buses and driven away. Their fault was that they came to the rally with portraits of their sons. -06В-

2013 August 18 (Sunday) 19:21:12

The hopes of the authorities, that the National Council will fall apart and run away will not come true. The opposition is determined to fight against the ruling party candidate in the upcoming presidential election. This was the essence of the speeches of opposition leaders.

Leader of "Musavat", Isa Gambar, said that August has always been a successful period for the national movement in Azerbaijan. Since 1989, when the Popular Front was created, and in 1991, when the national movement which began in August, led to the collapse of the Communist Party and the attainment of independence of Azerbaijan.

And now the opposition has united in the National Council to oppose the authoritarian regime Aliyev, the regime, which has been reigning for 40 years, and bored people will be put in the archives of history."

Speculation a bout the split in the National Council it is a lie, Gambar said. "We will support till the end a single candidate Rustam Ibrahimbayov," said Isa Gambar. However, according to Gambar, the National Council will take other solutions.

On Monday, a session of the National Council will nominate another single candidate from among the intelligentsia; or the idea expressed earlier by Rustam Ibrahimbayov to nominate several candidates in order to support at the final phase one of them.

"Tomorrow's meeting will be historic. In any case, we will not give the battlefield, " said the leader of the" Musavat ".

The head of the movement "El" and the head of the executive office of the National Council, Eldar Namazov, in his speech also said that the National Council remain united and will win.

The police demanded from the participants "not to chant slogans, not related to the election." It is not clear what they mean. However, police took away and broke up a few posters in support of political prisoners, democracy, etc.-06В-

2013 August 18 (Sunday) 17:07:55

Employees of the Rapid Response Regiment of the city police keep under heavy guard the subway station, the approaches to government agencies in the city center, as well as the entrances to the village of Bailov, where on Sunday at 17:00 pm started a protest rally of the opposition National Council.

According to Turan correspondents from the scene, that thousands of people have gathered and the people keep coming to the site of a driving school in the village of the “20th Site”, where the rally is taking place.

The place where the rally is taking place is surrounded by police squads. According to the latest information, Beydulla Mammadov, an activist of the NIDA youth movement, was arrested when approaching the site. -0-