EL Mission: from Authoritarianism to Democracy

On March 12 the EL political movement was presented in Baku. Even during the announcement of the creation of the organization there was ambiguity from both the government and the opposition. In this regard, Turan turned to head of the initiative group movement EL, Eldar Namazov, to answer relevant questions.

 

 

- Over the last few years, discussions have periodically flashed to the need for a new political force in Azerbaijani society.

 

Proponents expressed and defended it using similar arguments that were as follows. First, our society has a "silent majority", which is displeased with the existing state of affairs and wants democratic change, but for various reasons does not respond to calls from the existing opposition and does not take part in social and political processes. It is necessary to activate the "silent majority." Second, the two main opposition parties - Musavat and the Popular Front are, in fact, from the point of view of the electoral field, "twins": they "came out of a coat", they have the same ideology, platform, personnel and electoral resources.

 

After them, other organizations in the political field are devoid of organizational resources. Once strong and noticeable, other parties in recent years have reduced their activity. This vacuum is also one of the main reasons for the formation of the "silent majority." Personally for me the last push to decide to create a new political force were the results of the last parliamentary elections in 2010. Despite the fact that they were attended and there was a ruling party and two main opposition parties, according to independent observers, the leaders of the opposition in the election received around 10-15% of the votes. After that, for me it was obvious – if we really want democratic change, the situation in the political arena of the country needs to change.

 

 

- I recognize the current realities: the main task in the public agenda is not a choice between right-wing or left-wing political doctrines. The rulers totally violate the rights of all walks of life: doctors, teachers, young people, senior citizens, business people and the unemployed. Therefore, the essence of the political platform of the new movement is a transition from authoritarianism to democracy. We believe this is a priority for ourselves and for society as a whole at this stage. It is necessary to unite the efforts of all sectors of society around this problem. These goals are very consistent with the political and philosophical phenomenon known as EL. Modern Azerbaijani language, as well as ancient and medieval monuments, capture the essence of this concept: it means both "Homeland" and "people" in terms of presenting a fair political structure. It is also in tune with our approach to democracy. If until now the emphasis was on the promotion of democratic values ​​by the example of the achievements of Western developed countries, we are supporting in principle bringing a new focus - to have a democracy based on the historical development of our people, our culture and our traditions.

Democracy should not be considered as an imported product like "Coca-Cola" or "Mercedes", which it is better not to produce and deliver. This approach allows the authoritarian, corrupt authorities of the country to lead a false propaganda campaign about the alleged incompatibility of our mentality, our national traditions and principles of democracy with the West. But where, in any of our sacred books - the Koran, Dede Korkut, or others – was there ever preached plundering of the national wealth, abuse of the rights and interests of compatriots, bureaucratic lawlessness and disregard for basic norms of social justice? We, as part of our approach, intend to debunk this false opposition of our national and cultural traditions and intend to focus on the principles of democracy and human rights.

 

 

- The main priority for the EL movement at this stage is the transition from authoritarianism to democracy. Because we believe it is necessary to combine the efforts of all the democratic forces, for example - in the framework of the idea of ​​"National Council" proposed by Rustam Ibragimbekov, we think it is right to consider nomination of candidates for election jointly. This is based on a broad consensus and we are ready to take on this role, which falls on our shoulders.

  

 

- Of course, "what's next" will depend on the outcome of the election. We must achieve the desired first step before we can take more new steps. In any case, the movement of EL is not created for one year and not only for the transition to democracy, but also for subsequent stages: the completion of the transition period, new parliamentary elections, the formation of a reformist government and broad political, legal and democratic reforms. All of these are the goals and objectives of the movement for the future.

     

 

- This association arose because the new movement announced a chairman of the Forum of Intellectuals, Rustam Ibragimbekov. He and I are both founders and leaders of the Forum of Intellectuals. But this association is wrong. We have repeatedly stressed in interviews that the Forum of Intellectuals was and is a self-independent organization that is not directly involved in the political process as a party. But we also recognize the right of members of the Forum of Intellectuals to want to be elected, to participate in political movements and processes. This is the right of every individual, but as an organization - Forum of Intellectuals is not a political entity. In fact, even before the creation of a new movement, the Coordinating Board of the Forum of Intellectuals already presented leaders of other movements - Eldaniz Guliyev (Movement of Intellectuals) and Erkin Gadirli (REAL). So, our new movement is not the first, but the third movement, whose leaders also participate in the Forum of Intellectuals.

  

 

- We have lined up since the beginning with partnerships and constructive relationships with key parties. Isa Gambar and Ali Kerimli spoke at the launch of the movement with warm congratulations and expressed hope for further cooperation. I am also sure of this, since the first round of talks in this format have all been rated as fairly positive in their results.

 

 

- I have to be honest - I no longer respond to this campaign of "black PR." First, it is obvious to all that it consists of stories that have nothing to do with the truth. Second, the government has set a campaign against me in a "stream" of what to say to them. Therefore, we will not be distracted by them. The citizens and voters, I hope, can distinguish between truth and rough lies. As for dialogue, I am against the decisive, formal events designed just to put a tick in the government reports to international organizations as part of its obligations. Therefore, last year I publicly refused to participate in such an "event", which was organized by the presidential administration. Once again - in an open and honest dialogue I am always willing to take part. And I think that the authorities make a huge mistake by rejecting dialogue with the opposition and civil society. But in activities of a "show" character I am not going to participate.

 

 

- The Public Forum was created in the format of a non-governmental organization. We did quite a lot of work in the civilian sector and carried out a lot of interesting projects, including  "10 years of independence" and "The next 10 years," In these projects, hundreds of leading political scientists, economists, sociologists, and jurists of our country have analyzed the results of decades of independence and active proposals to reform the country's future. The published three volumes have become very popular in the expert community.

 

YES was created as a voting bloc to specific parliamentary elections in 2005. Despite the fact that the unit was formed just 2 months before the election, and it does not include the main political parties, the election results of our two candidates passed in parliament (known economists Vaheed Akhmedov and Ali Massimov). Two cases were proven to victory in the European Court of Human Rights, and the government was forced to pay us compensation (Yagub Mamedov and I). About 10 of our candidates, who were the favorites in the race, were unlawfully excluded from the election just days before the vote through court decisions - in Lankaran, Hajigabul, Mingachevir and other districts. For the unit, which started from scratch, the mentioned achievements of the short-term process are not just good, but very good in terms of public support.

 

By the way, this propelled the first discussion on the topic – whether it is possible to use this experience and form a new political movement. As can be seen, in 7-8 years we again had to discuss the issue and make a decision to create a new movement. So this is the social order and the public need.

 

 

- To be with the people, to talk to them, listen to them. I will give a simple example. We planned to announce the creation of a new movement at the end of February. The usual practice is for a group of people to hold a press conference and announce their intentions. But when we were in Baku for the organizing committee to form and carry out some preliminary work, we decided to send our representatives to three regions - Ganjabasar, Shirvan and Kuba-Khachmaz to learn the mood of the people and to talk to them about our plans. The results, with which they returned, helped us to adjust our plans. In all three regions, our representatives do not have to prove anything to anyone or explain. People are aware of what is happening in Baku, know our intentions, they were discussing how to be represented in the new movement. The short-term mission of our representatives is to complete the formation of action teams within the new movement in about 15 districts.

 

For this reason we delayed the presentation of the new movement for two weeks and continued to work in other regions. By the day of the presentation, we already had the initiative groups in 35 cities and regions. We now continue this work. It will not stop during the holidays. We decided that all the members of the organizing committee, including myself, will spend the holidays in the country. The Guba and Ismayilli events highlight the need for ​​a regional movement EL, and we need to seriously rethink the process where everything is decided in the capital.

 

Now, the whole country is a "Maydan" (a large square for rallies – edit.), on which it is decided if it is time to move from words to action and to achieve the country's democracy and social justice. -0 –