SOCAR representative offended by human rights defenders

The Public Association "Support for Entrepreneurship" held a debate Thursday on "Rebuilding the city and property issues."

The panelists noted that the absence of a General Plan for Baku is one of the causes of gross violation of citizen property rights.

Human rights activist Irada Javadova noted that over the last 5 years, forced evictions from homes in the city center have become widespread. In this case, homeowners are not paid adequate compensation and, in some cases, and are not paid at all.

Another area of ​​property rights violations was the eviction of people from the territory of the State Oil Company. Employees of SOCAR said that no one would be evicted, but then sued and using judicial decisions forcibly evicted citizens.

Representative of SOCAR Nadir Amiraslanov regarded these statements as "insulting" to SOCAR.

"SOCAR is not an enemy of the state and the people" he said, adding that they were carrying out instructions from the authorities. "Pipelines are installed at the direction of the presidential administration and the Cabinet of Ministers. If we are told to pay compensation, we will pay it, but if they say no, we will not pay," he said.

Amiraslanov defended all previous actions of SOCAR and left the meeting in protest against the "insult."

Natig Jafarli noted that the right of property in Azerbaijan is not an economic issue and not a legal one, but political.

The regime does not depend on support from the people for their power, and does not want to hear the voice of the people. Therefore, the root of the problem must be sought not in the law, he said.

Employee Committee planning and architect Tofik Guliyev said that the current chaotic situation in the issue of urban development is the lack of a Master Plan. "When these plans are adopted, this whole mess is resolved," he said, without specifying when.

Economist Rashad Ibragimov said that the attack on citizen’s property right is reflected not only in the fact that people have been displaced from their homes. It is also about the illegal demolition of commercial and other facilities. -05S-