To speak nicely……

Another wave of “fight against corruption” has begun in Azerbaijan. I put quotes because only arrests and reforming laws to reduce the possibility of tête-à-tête contacts between citizens and officials could not solve the problem of corruption.

This week they reported the arrest of the head of the Bilasuvar region, Mahir Guliyev, the State Security Service issued a video of his arrest, the recording of secret chambers about receiving bribes and testimonies given by the former subordinates of Mahir Guliyev, now the former head of the region, to the investigators. 

This is not interesting, because they all take bribes and denounce on each other the same way. There is a beautiful nuance in the biography of the head of the Executive Power of Bilasuvar region. It turns out that for about 20 years he worked as a waiter in a restaurant on Baku Boulevard, then, he entered and successfully graduated from the University of Nakhchivan and was immediately appointed deputy chair of the municipality of the metropolitan area. After some time, in 2005 he was appointed head of the Astara region in Azerbaijan. Six years later, in 2011, he was transferred to a similar position in Bilasuvar.  I have never heard that an experienced waiter can become the head of an entire region with its entire economy, multinational population, etc.

I have heard that a cook can rule the state, but that was in the Leninist RSFSR, not in our country. Later they told me that there were examples when personal drivers and security guards became the minister in Azerbaijan. It turns out I do not know much. I constantly hear that you can buy everything for bribes, but because people in my surroundings do not take or give bribes, I thought that it was not true.  I was wrong.

The bribe taker Guliyev distributed state funds to help the unemployed under quarantine, and money from the Heydar Aliyev Foundation allocated for the same purpose among his people.

In this video, I still remember the bribe-taker is sitting under a giant portrait of H.Aliyev, which does not prevent him from undermining the foundations of the state. Taking bribes they mention with gratitude Allah, who is silent, endures everything and will endure their brief, not cloudless stay in prison. Recently, under an amnesty, ex-general of ex-MNS Akif Chovdarov was released ahead of schedule; compared with him Guliyev and other regional bribe takers are just small children.

Today, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced the arrest of four officials in four regional executive powers; they also stole money allocated to help victims of coronavirus.

The current arrests coincided with the appointment of the former head of the anti-corruption department, Kamran Aliyev, as the Prosecutor General. International reports clearly demonstrate how all this time they fought corruption. For example, according to Transparency International, from 2003 to 2019, Azerbaijan ranked   from 119 to 152 places in the corruption rating among 180 countries. The fight was weak and ineffective, because it is systemic in nature. In an interview with Voice of America, Erkin Gadirli, a member of the Milli Majlis from the REAL party, answering a question about the role of parliament in the fight against corruption, does not accept the concept of “fight against corruption”. “This is a systemic problem. The roots of this system must be investigated and resolved,” he said.

Gadirli believes that it is unjustified to expect that changing corrupt officials could prevent corruption. “It is necessary to change the very system that creates corruption. Some steps are being taken, but we all expect more radical reforms,” Gadirli said.

I also do not expect anything from these arrests. Corruption is a systemic matter. If after the elections a waterfall of incriminating facts falls on heads, and this happens without punitive consequences, then there is systemic corruption. It cannot be that it exists in one sphere, and it does not exist in another. Gadirli considers it important to exclude teachers from the composition of precinct election commissions.

“Schools are very dependent on the executive branch, and they are even more dependent on the executive branch than the Central Election Commission. This is especially clearly manifested in the recent elections ... It seems to me that the recent arrests of heads of the executive branch related to corruption should be considered in a post-election context. Subsequently, elections can be held in electronic format. This system works in many countries. In this case, there will not be need in a precinct election commissions,” Gadirli said.

He speaks nicely ... (I will not continue the catch phrase from Ilf and Petrov). I can do that too. What good is it, if we are already grateful that we have not been arrested and beaten for our beautiful statements? You cannot live like that. Reforms must be real and at the very root, otherwise the word "reform" has already lost its meaning, and we see the result: some are arrested, and others appear instead. The imprisoned are easily released because the amnesty system is also cor