Baku. Anakhanum Hidayatova – APA. APA’s interview with William Racimora, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center (ESISC)
- Mr. Racimora, how do you estimate current pre-election environment in Azerbaijan?
- The situation is very well, now it is the third mission in Azerbaijan of course we have already read the report of OSCE on this our comprehension of the situation is completely different we have made report and it is called: “The republic of Azerbaijan is a good model of governance”. When we come from EU to Baku first impression is a social peace climate in the streets. I used to travel a lot. In Baku it is never seen police or never seen army in the streets, your first impression there is gender equality, religious tolerance, there is good political climate. It is very easy in Azerbaijan to meet personal administration it very easy to meet a journalist anybody, this is very strong indicator that the situation is good.
- Is the government well prepared for the elections?
- Even the information of OSCE report demonstrates that government is well prepared. All the contacts that we have in the country show the same thing. In fact we don’t understand analysis. What we know before to make our first mission to Azerbaijan is why territory of country is occupied, we know also and OSCE also knows that you have 1 million IDPs. Taking in account these problems Azerbaijan is in very good situation. Azerbaijan is a model of stability in the South Caucasus region. This region is very explosive.
- Do you think Azerbaijani constitution gives enough opportunities and freedoms to make a free choice?
- Constitution of Azerbaijan and presidential system is not very different that we have in EU, we have also read OSCE that you have in Azerbaijan very strong presidential regime. Do you know that presidential regime in France is stronger then in Azerbaijan. French President François Hollande has more power then Ilham Aliyev.
- Do you think Azerbaijani constitution gives enough opportunities and freedoms to make a right choice, especially in terms presidential elections?
- Constitution of Azerbaijan and presidential system is not very different that we have in EU, we have also read OSCE that you have in Azerbaijan very strong presidential regime. Do you know that presidential regime in France is stronger then in Azerbaijan. French President François Hollande has more power the Ilham Aliyev.
- What can be the reason of OSCE being so critical?
- Political reasons. The cold War time is over and perhaps they don’t have the same point of view. We think the most important think now is political stability in Republic of Azerbaijan. Your country is partner for us. Tomorrow Azerbaijan will become the biggest oil and gas provider by TAP project. So Azerbaijan is a model of good governance we think that all indicators show you are going the same path of democracy that we go in EU. During the presidential election it was also need an assessment mission of OSCE and there were 27 propositions for amelioration of democracy of Azerbaijan and five years after 19 of propositions implemented. It is a lot some proposition a not. Some of propositions of OSCE are not reliable.
- Which for instance?
- For example to ask president I.Aliyev to make a round table with opposition it is unbelievable, can u imagine asking Mr. François Hollande to make round table with opposition. It is impossible.
- Do you agree with opinion that there is no free media in Azerbaijan?
- When I google Azerbaijan here in Baku, I can read everything including information against The President, this is freedom of press.
- In Azerbaijani society there is an opinion that EU is leading a policy of double standards against Azerbaijan, do you agree with it?
- Of course, in the report of OSCE presidential election in Armenia they said that there were critic of system and those people who said that the system is perfect. In Azerbaijan they don’t find any one to say the system is good this is unbelievable.
- How do you see the results of elections?
- We think that citizens of Azerbaijan will chose political stability we think it is not the main political question the main political question is that the stability of your country the election will be amelioration of relation between Azerbaijan and our countries.
- Should we expect anything like in Armenia during the elections period?
- No, I think we have sample like during the elections in Belgium like not big manifestation conflict between police and people like in Brussels but no violence you have no movement like “dashnak” in Armenia. We are not afraid of violence during the election.
- What would you offer for better promotion of Azerbaijan in EU?
– Tourism, more visibility in EU in Paris, London, Berlin, cultural manifestations etc so the citizen could have an opinion on Azerbaijan, public opinion in our country is very important.
– How do you estimate the role of media during the pre-election period in Azerbaijan?
– Like in all countries, media politically involved journalists have their opinion and possibility to express their opinion.
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