Baku / 23.01.20 / Turan: The Democracy Index, compiled annually by the British company Economist Intelligence Unit among 167 countries of the world, once again characterized the regime in Azerbaijan as autocracy. Among 167 countries of the world, Azerbaijan again took one of the last places – 147th.
When compiling the classification, 60 different indicators are taken into account, collected in 5 categories: elections and pluralism, civil liberties, government activities, political engagement of the population and political culture.
In the Democracy Index, countries are divided into 4 categories: Full-fledged (liberal) democracies are states where civil liberties and fundamental political freedoms are respected and supported by political culture. In these countries, there is an independent judiciary, the decisions of which are implemented by governments, and independent media.
Imperfect democracies are countries where elections are fair and free, and basic civil liberties are respected, but there are violations of media freedom.
These countries have a weak political culture, low participation of the population in politics and problems of the management system.
Hybrid regimes are countries where elections are held with violations, and governments put pressure on political opponents, the courts are not independent, corruption is widespread, there is pressure on the media, and there is no rule of law.
Authoritarian regimes are countries where political pluralism has disappeared or is extremely limited. These are absolute monarchies or dictatorships. There are formally traditional democratic institutions, but they do not play a role. Violations and abuses of civil liberties are common, elections are unfair and not free, media are state owned or controlled, courts are dependent, and criticism of the government is severely suppressed.
For several years, Azerbaijan has remained in the category of authoritarian regimes, behind Armenia (86th place) and Georgia (89th place) in 2019.
Among the former republics of the USSR, Azerbaijan was ahead of countries such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. In addition to them, the governments of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus are recognized as authoritarian regimes.
The most undemocratic countries recognized are North Korea, Iraq and Ethiopia. -02D-
Politics
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On the eve of the closing of the COP29 climate conference in Baku, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has drawn attention to the criminal cases of journalists detained in Azerbaijan.
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Negotiations at the 29th session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Baku have been extended until November 24, a source in the UNFCCC Secretariat told the Turan news agency. According to the source, participants aim to finalize and sign the concluding documents by that date.
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According to the Turkish newspaper Sabah, officials from the Istanbul Prosecutor's Office's Anti-Smuggling Unit have detained an Azerbaijani citizen with a large shipment of gold. The detention took place near the Vadi İstanbul shopping center in the Sarıyer district, where a taxi was stopped. During the search, 70 kg of gold was found. The Azerbaijani citizen in the vehicle claimed ownership of the cargo and also stated that he was a diplomat. The investigation by the prosecutor's office is ongoing, reports Sabah newspaper. The media outlet does not disclose the name of the "diplomat," only his initials – M.G.Ş. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declined to comment on the situation.
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On November 22, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed negotiations with Azerbaijan regarding a peace treaty in an interview with Public TV. In particular, he emphasized that society should move away from certain stereotypes. “We are outraged when we hear the term ‘Western Azerbaijan.’ But we don’t think that when we say ‘Western Armenia,’ it also irritates anyone,” he stated.
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