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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit remains a hot topic for the Turkish press. The newspaper “Taraf” has condemned state reward awarded to Aliyev in Ankara and has published a critical article entitled "A state reward to dictator."

"This country is on the 139th place out of 148 in the Democracy Index. That is to say the human rights issue and the rule of law there is a myth. This is a country located on the retardation zone on the World freedom map. According to the seven-point scale Azerbaijan is estimated at 5.5 points, which means that political rights and personal freedom there are completely absent. This is a country which is on the 156th place out of 179 according to Press Freedom Index. That is to say, censorship, threats, intimidation, etc. is thriving there. This country is named in the latest report of Amnesty International as “dictatorial." That is to say, the pressure on the opposition, repressions by the police, arrests by order and tortures there are a norm. This is a country that is lagging at the end of the Transparency International list, and is on the 139th place out of 176. That is to say total corruption, bribery ... and this country is Azerbaijan and its leader’s name is Ilham Aliyev," the newspaper writes.

As noted in the article, Aliyev a week after the "victory" in the presidential elections received the highest state award of Turkey, and not for contribution in the promotion of human rights, democracy, justice and freedom, but for the contribution to the development of bilateral relations, i.e. gas, oil, pipeline, etc.