Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev moved nearer to asserting rule over the separatist area of Karabakh this week, in what would mark a serious victory for the autocratic chief of just about twenty years.
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Wresting management over Nagorno-Karabakh had been a longtime purpose of Aliyev, who took over in 2003 after the demise of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former Soviet KGB officer and Communist-era boss.
The 61-year-old has received each election since, sustaining his household’s tight grip over the oil-rich Caspian Sea state in polls denounced by the opposition as fastened.
Supporters have praised the Aliyevs for turning the republic – as soon as regarded as a Soviet Union backwater – right into a flourishing power provider to Europe, internet hosting Formulation 1 races, UEFA soccer matches and the Eurovision Track Contest.
However critics argue they’ve crushed dissent and used their energy to amass a fortune that funds a lavish way of life for the president and his household, whereas whitewashing human rights abuses.
Aliyev has all the time denied all accusations of corruption and human rights violations.
The Aliyev Dynasty
Likened in leaked US diplomatic cables to the fictional mob boss Michael Corleone, Aliyev amended the nation’s structure in 2009 so he may run for a vast variety of presidential phrases.
Then in 2016, Azerbaijan adopted constitutional amendments that controversially prolonged the president’s time period in workplace to seven years from 5.
The modifications drew criticism from Council of Europe constitutional legislation specialists as “severely upsetting the steadiness of powers” and giving the president “unprecedented” authority.
In 2017, the president appointed his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva as first vp.
Born into the highly effective Pashayev household, she is typically seen as a attainable successor and even rival to her husband.
The subsequent technology of the Aliyev dynasty seems set to proceed the household’s main position in Azerbaijani politics.
In 2010, The Washington Submit reported property price $75 million in Dubai within the names of the president’s son Heydar and his daughters Arzu and Leyla.
Typically noticed at lavish purple carpet occasions overseas, Leyla, 39, and Arzu, 34, are thought to manage substantial companies pursuits of their very own.
‘New issues’
Bolstered by billions in oil cash, Aliyev has overseen years of regular financial development and adopted a practical international coverage agenda, treading fastidiously between Russia and the West.
He has maintained sturdy ties with historic ally Turkey and its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been a vocal proponent of Baku all through unrest round Nagorno-Karabakh.
And Western leaders have additionally turned to Aliyev, who has marketed Azerbaijan as a vital provider of gasoline to European nations searching for to wean themselves off Russian provides following the struggle in Ukraine.
However Aliyev’s international politics have largely been eclipsed by Baku’s many years lengthy struggle with Armenian forces, upon which hinges a lot of his recognition.
The top of Azerbaijan’s newest operation within the separatist area will undoubtedly enhance Aliyev’s rankings, unbiased political analyst Shahin Hajiyev advised AFP.
“However he might be going through new issues now in fulfilling his promise to make sure the rights of Karabakh’s Armenians,” he mentioned.
Conflict in Karabakh
Aliyev has repeatedly blasted Armenia for “illegally occupying” Karabakh – recognised internationally as a part of Azerbaijan – and peace talks with Yerevan have yielded little outcomes.
Six weeks of combating in autumn 2020 ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire that noticed Armenia cede swathes of land it had gained throughout combating within the Nineties.
And after heavy bombardment from Azerbaijani forces and dozens of deaths, Armenian separatists within the conflict-ridden area grudgingly agreed Wednesday to put down their arms and maintain reintegration talks.
This course of could also be harder than the army operation itself, Hajiyev mentioned.
If Azerbaijan fails to make sure Armenian rights consistent with worldwide requirements, this, Hajiyev warned, “might be a adverse issue affecting the picture of each Aliyev and the nation on the worldwide area.”
(AFP)