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Presidential elections in Azerbaijan are almost here, but the backup candidate for opposition, in case Oscar-winning screenwriter Rustam Ibrahimbekov fails to be nominated as a united candidate, is still not defined . . .

The possibility of such an outcome of events is more than real, as he still has a Russian passport in his pocket, the issue concerning the property in the USA is not resolved, and, therefore, doesn’t have the right to be nominated based on Azerbaijani law. Anyway, the initiative group supporting Ibrahimbekov has submitted documents to Central Electoral Commission.

Needless to say, it is pretty tough for oppositionists there, who might as well be accused of Armenophilia. The method is an old and tested one, guaranteeing a stamp it would be hard, if not impossible, to get rid of.

Here are a few examples. Elchin Mirzabeyli, the deputy of Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, has recently reminded Imbrahimbekov about the interview in “Pravda” newspaper given in 2008, where the screenwriter regrets about the relocations of Armenians from Baku and states openly that the city elite has disrupted, and that he misses the Armenians who left. “There is a similar motive, nostalgia, in the latest work by Akram Aylisli. From that viewpoint, I think it is possible they are both controlled by the same center,” said the politician.

The Youth organization of the ruling party issued a statement a few months ago: “It is very shameful that these people still call themselves representatives of Azerbaijani intelligentsia. Their activities can be considered as treason to Fatherland. We demand Rustam Ibrahimbekov and Akram Aylisli to be announced as “personae non gratae.” Yeni Azerbaijan pro-governmental newspaper described Ibrahimbekov as “discourteous, amoral Armenophile.” The executive secretary of “Yeni Azerbaijan” ruling party Ali Ahmedov claimed: “Every citizen of Azerbaijan must despise the thinking and ideology of Rustam Ibrahimbekov.”

Interestingly, this method is used not only against political opponents, but also international organizations criticizing the authorities of Azerbaijan. The head of the Geneva office of the bureau of the human rights organization “Human Rights House” Florian Irminger said that everyone already knows who the next Azerbaijani president will be. “In other countries people find out the name of the winner the next day after elections.

The fact that it is previously known who the president will be proves that the elections are falsified. In the meantime, the statement of the former head of the European Union, according to which the current president has some good chances to win in upcoming elections, authorizes those elections in a way,” notes Irminger. In return, the official Baku, more specifically the head of the department of political analysis and information support of the administration of the president Elnur Aslanov accused the “Human Rights House” organization in executing an order: “It’s not a coincidence that a big number of Armenian Diaspora organizations are partners to “Human Rights House.” Besides that, the financial issues of the given structure of the secretariat are directed by a person of Armenian descent, Saro Saroyan.” To be brief, because of an absence of other more or less intelligible arguments, the Armenian card continues to be the most effective one at the upcoming Azerbaijani elections for the fight against oppositionists . . .

Asatur Sarkisyan