Building up to the parliamentary elections set for November, more than 20,000 people rallied through the streets of Baku last Saturday, demanding the resignation of President Ilham Aliyev and his authoritarian regime. Inspired by the same partisan symbols as in Ukraine the orange stream of demonstrators flowed into Victory Square, uniting their efforts for a free anddemocratic Azerbaijan. (12-SEP-05)
The demonstrations were organised by several opposition parties, as an expression of dissatisfaction with the regime of president Aliyev, marked with disrespect of media freedom, corrupted and impartial judiciary as well as with harassment of human rights defenders and their families.
-We are not afraid
-This is a democratic movement that will end the reign of dictatorship. We are not afraid, said religious freedom activist Ilgar Ibrahimoglu, imam of the Juma mosque and one of the organizers of the demonstration, who himself suffered detention and ill-treatment in the aftermath of the 2003 Presidential elections.
-Let our exiles return to participate in the elections
As the demonstrators were entering the Victory Square, where the main event took place, they shouted ´Freedom, freedom!´. Although the Square was secured by more than 2,000 heavily equipped police officers (whose salaries are said to have been increased by seven times for the forthcoming elections) previously expected violence was avoided. There, demonstrators issued a list of demands to the authorities, calling for reforms to elections legislation as well as the right for a number of exiled politicians to return for participation in the vote.
-Crucial elections for the future of this oil-rich state
They also called for the removal of the director of a new public television channel that the authorities announced would act as an impartial media outlet ahead of the elections. Namely, Azerbaijan´s last election, international monitors say, was marred by fraud and violence and the country´s poor democratic record has not improved since. Two thousand candidates have already been registered for 125 seats in the parliament. This election has already been assessed as crucial for the future of this oil-rich state. Hopefully, unlike before, this time they will meet internationally recognized standards for free and fair elections.
