From self-immolation to self-cleaning
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It took less than a year when, in February 2013 the fourth Congress of Azerbaijan Trade Unions Confederation (TUA ) hastily put forward Ilham Aliyev’s candidacy for a third term of presidency.
Nomination of the chief executive of the country by a public organization, which acts as an intermediary between the workers and the government, should be regarded as nonsense; but not in an authoritarian Azerbaijan, where any such initiative is accepted with moral and material approval without regard to public opinion.
In an analytical review by Turan News Agency on February 6, it was noted that "the initiative launched form the top by the TUA on the nomination of presidential candidate Ilham Aliyev became awkward service to its supporters, because Azerbaijan trade union is no longer a workers' spokesman, not it protects only regime which throughout suppresses the socio- economic rights of citizens.
By tradition, the f nomination of the first-person as a candidate by trade unions, and not by the party "Yeni Azerbaijan", accordion to the plan of odious regime strategists, should emphasize the unity of the working masses and the president, as the personification of non-party interests of Aliyev. However, the matter is that the Azerbaijani unions are not the best choice to emphasize that unity. It could emphasize by the public, and fair response of the guarantor of the constitution to the unrest in the country; but this reaction manifests itself only in the hidden reactionary form, which we have witnessed in the first days of February.
Then the talk was about the reaction by the authorities to the January protests in the Ismailli region, when then on concocted charges were arrested Ilgar Mamedov, the leader of the "Republican Alternative" (ReAl) Movement, and Tofig Yagublu, deputy chairman of the Musavat Party.
Continued after that throughout 2013 the systematic preventive pressure on civil society , through arrests and intimidation of activists , seemingly worked and society did not swallow falsification of the presidential elections and even on non-political event, but beating affordable for almost every family - price increase fuel. However, demonstrative self-immolation by a disabled of the Karabakh war, Zaur Hasanov, in front of the building of trade unions on December 25 , immediately after the president's birthday, on the eve of the New Year and the Day of Solidarity of Azerbaijanis was the final dramatic black chord of the 2013 year.
Such an extreme protest desperate of the father of five children, whom the head of Trade Unions, Sattar Mehbaliev, deprived the only meager source of income in the form of small cafes, can not be regarded as a misunderstanding, taken separately.
This particular case has become an indicator of hidden despair of hundreds of thousands of people trapped in an oligarchic voluntarism. The reaction that followed the act of self-immolation testifies that top leaders are aware of the mood of protest in society. With the exception of the head of trade unions, who realized the complexity of the situation only after the reaction from the top, a number of officials, including the president, responded swiftly: 100,000 manats of lump-assistance to the family of Zaur Hasanov; AZN 1,500 for children per month before reaching adulthood, and Hasanov’s treatment in one of the best clinics in the world.
The fact that the Health Minister, Oktay Shiraliev, cousin of the First Lady, first appeared in the ward of the dying Hasanov, means that they understand the complexity of the moment , which is able to blow up the society, but there are also contradictions. The head of the trade union and his matchmaker, Presidential Administration, Ali Hasanov, insisted on the legality of the demolition union’s cafe without compensation, but then the Family had to smooth the growing tension. Therefore great efforts were made and bodies were attracted to prevent the planned protests of the veterans of the Karabakh war and youth activists .
The reaction of the President Ilham Aliyev shows that he is aware of the complexity of the situation; but it is not clear if he is able to take steps to take the country out of the way deadlock. President’s concern from time to time is expressed in the form of blaming officials for not respecting people, but no actions are taken to eliminate the causes of growing gap between the rulers and the people. The same happened during events in Guba , Ismayilli , youth rallies, and so on. It is unlikely anything will change now. Such a situation wil last until the next emergency, when a separately conflict or protest turns into mass acts of disobedience. They are not excluded, and it is testified, as it was noted above, by the response of more pragmatic figures of Aliyev's team to the self-immolation of Zaur Hasanov.
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