Haqqin.az: Heads of Western companies, including BP, did not congratulat Ilham Aliyev on his re-election
The chairmen of major Western companies that have oil and gas interests in Azerbaijan, have not congratulated Ilham Aliyev on his re-election to a third term yet, Azerbaijani news portal Haqqin.az reports.
According to the site, the administration of these companies traditionally congratulates the president that has taken victory at the presidential election. However, the BP chairman Robert Dudley and the heads of other companies do not hurry to congratulate Ilham Aliyev. According to the author of the article, such kind of behavior of the Western companies gives rise to questions, especially against the background of European organizations’ negative assessment for the elections.
"Perhaps they are waiting for corresponding instructions from the leadership of the ministries of foreign affairs of their countries," the author suggests.
The portal notes that the leaders of the United States, Britain, Germany and France have not congratulated Aliyev too.
"It is known that after the OSCE’s and the U.S. State Department criticism Baku is undertaking a strict anti-Western campaign. It is even expected that Azerbaijan is intended to boycott the summit of "Eastern Partnership", which will be held in November in Vilnius," the article stated.
In addition, "Haqqin.az" writes that the president of Russia's largest oil company "Lukoil" Vahid Alekperov congratulated President Ilham Aliyev on his victory in the presidential election, despite the fact that Alekperov’s relationship with the Azerbaijani President’s administration has been tensed after his entry into "Union of billionaires."
"A day after the presidential elections held in Azerbaijan Vladimir Putin called Vahid Alekperov to Kremlin. The Russian press reported that he was instructed to supervise the business interests of Russia in Azerbaijan," the portal says.
On October 9 presidential election were held in Azerbaijan during which incumbent President Ilham Aliyev received 84.54% of votes. Jamil Hasanli, a single candidate from the opposition National Council of Democratic Forces, was on the second place. He scored 5.53% of the vote.
The joint statement of the ODIHR / OSCE observation mission and the Parliamentary Assembly, noted that the presidential elections were held in Azerbaijan in terms of restriction of freedom of speech and assembly. In its turn, the Minister for European Affairs David Lidington stated that the British Foreign Ministry shares the OSCE / ODIHR’s opinion that the presidential elections held in Azerbaijan failed to meet the commitments with OSCE. Opinion of the OSCE and the United Kingdom are also divided the U.S. Department of State.
In October last year, at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers the President of Azerbaijan had subjected BP to harsh criticism in connection with the falling of oil production. The British company BP leads the consortium of oil production at the "Azeri", "Chirag" and "Guneshli" minefields in Azerbaijan. Aliyev had accused the company of gross miscalculations made in the course of operation and non-fulfillment of obligations. The conflict was later settled.