![Dispatches: Azerbaijan Attacking the Messengers](https://turan.az/resized/750/500/resize/media/2013/main/101700053761.jpg)
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- 17 October 2013, 12:48
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Dispatches: Azerbaijan Attacking the Messengers
Ilham Alieyev’s victory in the October 9, 2013 presidential vote in Azerbaijan was a foregone conclusion, but the government’s crackdown during 2013 left little room to even imagine a free and fair vote. Preliminary results announced by the Central Election Commission gave Aliyev a landslide victory with about 85 percent of the vote, while his main opposition opponent, got just over 5 percent. The government’s celebration started soon after the polling stations closed. But marring the party were numerous photo and video testimonies of electoral fraud. Experienced and credible local and international observers also documented widespread election violations.
The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly found that the election fell far short of international standards. It said that the vote “was undermined by limitations on [fundamental] freedoms … Continued allegations of candidate and voter intimidation and a restrictive media environment.” ODIHR observers found “clear indications of ballot box stuffing in 37 polling stations” and assessed counting in “overwhelmingly negative terms, with 58 percent of observed polling stations assessed as bad or very bad.” The criticism was echoed by some partners of Azerbaijan, including by the United States Department of State, although others includingCouncil of Europe parliamentarians seemed determined to be positive.
The Azerbaijani leadership’s reaction to the international criticism was harsher than usual. Ali Hasanov, the head of the Presidential Administration’s Social and Political Department, dismissed the ODIHR report as biased and warned that the government might have to reconsider its cooperation with the ODIHR in the future. At the same time, the head of the Presidential Administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev, attempted to discredit the US concerns by accusing US officials of lobbying Azerbaijani authorities to apportion a certain percentage of votes to the opposition.
For years now, the Azerbaijan government appears to have made a conscious decision to live in a parallel reality, where there is no room for criticism, even if constructive, and where the only possible response to it is threats and smears. Instead of dealing with the underlying problems, the government is attacking the messengers in an effort to discredit them.
Dismissing problems will not resolve them. But it is likely to deepen public discontent and undermine the government’s credibility.
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I welcome respected media representatives, professional and honest journalists from places of detention. July 22 is an important day for journalists, mass media and teachers of Azerbaijan. 149 years ago, Hassan Bey Zardabi, the great educator, the most valuable thinker, the founder of our journalism, lit the first light for society to come out of darkness, giving humanity the newspaper “AKINCI.”
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The past day has not clarified the question of why the meeting between Aliyev and Pashinyan in London on July18 broke down. The announcement of the upcoming meeting was made a week ago from Armenian sources, and Baku was silent about the upcoming meeting.
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I stand firmly in support of President Ilham Aliyev's vision for Azerbaijan's future.
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As Azerbaijan commemorates the 106th anniversary of its republic, Alasgar Mammadli, a prominent intellectual and lawyer, sends a poignant holiday greeting from the isolation ward of Kurdakhani Detention Center:
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