AZERBAIJAN: Tens of thousands attend pro-government rally as Azerbaijan approaches November 6 parliamentary elections

Record ID: 218498

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: Tens of thousands attend pro-government rally as Azerbaijan approaches November 6 parliamentary elections
  • Date: 5th November 2005
  • Summary: (EU) BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (NOVEMBER 4, 2005) (REUTERS) WIDE SHOT MOSQUE; AZERBAIJAN FLAG WITH MINARET OF MOSQUE ON BACK; MEN KNEELING DOWN FOR PRAYERS OUTSIDE MOSQUE; MEN PRAYING; WOMEN PRAYING; PAN UP FROM COURT YARD FULL WITH MEN PRAYING TO MINARETS OF MOSQUE (6 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 20th November 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Azerbaijan
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1IMWE3FDXJ4HUAASIHQAPL0CT
  • Story Text: People in Azerbaijan attended morning prayers on Friday (November 4, 2005) as the Muslim ex-soviet state on the Caspian sea prepares for its November 6 parliamentary elections.
    Western governments, who would like to intensify ties with the oil-rich nation, hope the upcoming election will be free and fair, but the campaign period ahead of the election has been fraught with tensions.
    "I would like these elections to be wonderful, calm and as enlightened as the Koran," said Karaeva Medina after her Friday morning prayers.
    But her wish seemed out of touch with reality. Not far from her mosque, hordes of police were training in full riot gear to crush any sign of protests.
    Dozens of opposition supporters have been arrested and beaten for holding banned protests in the past months, and New York based Human Right Watch said fair elections are impossible.
    President Ilham Aliyev, who has ruled the country after taking over from his father in 2003, has blamed opposition leaders for trying to stage a revolution and has arrested members in his own cabinet for trying to plot a coup against him.
    In an extended cabinet meeting on Thursday, partly broadcasted on national TV, Aliyev challenged the opposition.
    "Where are those who attacked us in their orange T-shirts? Where are they? Where is Rasul Guliyev? A thief and mafiosi, why is he not coming to Azerbaijan? Let him come and answer our questions. Is he afraid? And others will be scared too, because they have not enough courage. That is it," the President told the nation.
    He said the arrests of two ministers on charges of plotting a coup had saved his oil-producing country from a possible civil war.
    Health Minister Ali Ansanov and Economic Development Minister Farhad Aliyev were last month removed from their jobs and charged with helping exiled opposition leader Rasul Guliyev plot a coup on the eve of Sunday's parliamentary election.
    Twelve senior officials have been arrested on charges of plotting a coup. Some of them were shown on local television confessing their guilt. Western governments say Sunday's election is a key test of the country's commitment to democratic reform. International observers have yet to judge an election in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan to be free and fair.
    In a further sign of power and popularity the ruling party organised a huge rally on Friday and unfurled a 1.5 kilometre long national flag.
    Azerbaijan is located in the turbulent South Caucasus region, scene of several separatist conflicts. It exports increasing volumes of oil to world markets.
    Aliyev's critics say the coup charges were fabricated to mask a power struggle between rival clans inside the ruling elite for control over the country's growing wealth.
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