Registration of NDI Restored in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani authorities have restored the state registration of the U.S. National Democratic Institute. The press service of the Ministry of Justice confirmed this information for Turan, saying that the agreement with NDI was signed, and the organization was registered.

Note that, by decision of the Cabinet of Ministers on 16 March 2011, foreign NGOs should have a written agreement with the Ministry of Justice to act in the country.

But even before this decision, on March 10, 2011 the Azerbaijani authorities suspended the activities of NDI and Human Rights House - the unit of the Norwegian Fund House of Human Rights. The reason stated was the lack of an agreement with the Ministry of Justice.

Despite its repeated appeals to the Justice Ministry, the Norwegian organization's activity was not recovered.

In practice, this means that NDI will be able to continue its projects in Azerbaijan, which came down to work with political parties and civil society.

According to materials of WikiLeaks, this activity of NDI irritated official Baku and in the person of the President's administration head Ramiz Mehdiyev it repeatedly demanded that the U.S. ambassadors to "stop supporting the radical opposition." -06B-