Press Review 05/14/2016

The criminal silence of state agencies, the regional integration in the Caucasus, and the difficult social situation of the population are the main topics of today's press.

Azadlig writes that Brazil's parliament suspended the President for corruption. Against this background, the authorities and state departments of Azerbaijan are subjected to severe criticism. The author writes about the disclosure of hundreds of corruption cases regarding the heads of executive powers to the head of state.

This includes the Panamanian documents, offshore deals, London real estate, and billions in the Virgin offshore. With such facts in a different country, no power would ever help, but not in Azerbaijan, the author writes.

Novoye Vremya publishes an article The Baku-Tbilisi-Ankara Axis in Action, which refers to the new regional integration in the Caucasus.

It is also about the implementation of major projects such as the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, and the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey railway. The three countries are interested in the safety of their pipelines and their continuous activity.

The author believes Turkey pursues this ambitious integration. Cooperating in projects, Turkey strengthens its position in the Caucasus. The issue of strengthening the activities of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ankara axis is agreed with Washington, says the author.

Echo in the article The Poor Get Poorer says the middle class is almost extinct. According to the economist Ogtay Hagverdiyev, today there is a huge gap between the minimum wage in Azerbaijan and in the West. "In Euro terms the minimum wage in Azerbaijan is equal to about 80 Euros, while in European countries the minimum wage varies from 500 to 1,300 Euros. If we talk about the size of the average wage in Azerbaijan, today in Euro terms it amounts to 370 Euros, and, say, in Germany the average salary is equal to 2,200 euros. If we talk about what amount is required by a family of four in Azerbaijan, it is at least 1,000 AZN. However, in our country less than 10% of the population has wages in this amount," the expert said.

Bizim Yol writes about the gasification in Azerbaijan in the period from 2005 to 2014, which took more than 1 billion AZN. According to Azerigaz, the gasification of the country covered almost 70%. However, the studies do not consider this percentage real. Thus, many villages are not supplied gas yet. The head of the Association of Free Entrepreneurs, Eyyub Huseynov says the gasification in the country is in a sorry state, comparing it with the situation in India.  –0--