FIA urges citizens to revolutionary change

Forum of Azerbaijani Intelligentsia (FIA) issued a statement which condemned the campaign of harassment by the authorities against the structure and basic lines of measures to address the country's problems.

The FIA called the campaign launched against the FIA ​​and its individual members as "moral terror" and defamation, "black PR" which aims not only to silence the Azerbaijani intelligentsia expressing pain, protest and demands of the people, but to divert public opinion from the scandalous revelations of corruption in high places of power. "The government is trying to divert public opinion from the fact that due to published in Azerbaijani and international media inquiries and" video exposure, "the Azerbaijani society, the entire global community was overwhelming evidence that almost all branches of Azerbaijan - the legislative, executive and judiciary - have become the preserve of criminal groups, and the political system based on cronyism and corruption, has lost any signs of legitimacy," is said in the statement.

The authorities are also trying to divert public opinion from the fact that the recently adopted amendments to the draconian laws, give them a "legal" basis to conduct broad crackdown on government critics.

  The authorities want to avoid the question - with what money was purchased dozens of houses in the Middle East and Europe, dozens of companies in the offshore areas were designed for the relatives and people close to the country's leadership, sometimes - not for adults?

The ruling elite, in fact, transferred to private ownership or control almost everything that is in the bowels of the Azerbaijani lands, and on the surface, completely subordinating the economy to their own financial interests.

The authorities wish that the society would forget about the scandals with Eurovision, the World Internet Forum, exposing the "caviar diplomacy" in the Council of Europe, which clearly showed that not only in the political life, but also on the international scene, they finally lose credibility.

 "Indiscriminately accusing members of the Forum of Intellectuals of the ‘mythical’ links with Dashnaks, the authorities want to hide from the public that their unprofessional and shortsighted steps actually gave carte blanche to the Armenian side to launch the campaign for the recognition of the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh," the statement by the FIA said.

At the same time, the authors of the statement said that for the Azerbaijani people and Azerbaijani society, there is only one legal, civilized and effective way out of this dangerous situation - get the right people on the formation of government.

In this regard, fateful for the country and the current and future generations of Azerbaijanis are next year's presidential elections.

The FIA, after consultation with various groups of the society - parties, NGOs, youth organizations offers a community project to ensure democracy at the upcoming presidential elections. This project includes all the modern methods of guaranteeing protection from all kinds of fraud, including the work of local and international observers, conducting exit polls and parallel vote count, etc.

The FIA launched, in conjunction with experts in the field of political science, law and economics, development of programs that enable the effective management of the country immediately after the election. They are based on the wealth of international experience in many countries that have already implemented the successful transition from authoritarianism to democracy over the past decade.

The main directions of the program, which were launched by the FIA and are going to be held in the near future, are:

- Construction of a new political and legal system that guarantees the suppression of corruption at all levels of government and ensures the rights and freedoms of citizens, an effective balance between the branches of government,

- Construction of a new social and economic model designed for the post-oil period, and ensuring sustainable development and social well-being of citizens,

- To develop a new political strategy in the Karabakh conflict, able to restore the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan.

"The Intellectuals Forum, taking into account the willingness of the society to update and the historical responsibility to future generations, calls on all citizens and political forces of the country to consolidation in the name of democratic reforms in Azerbaijan," is said in the statement of the FIA. -06D -