Geopolitics wins Aliyev first White House visit

[Judi Lynn]

Geopolitics wins Aliyev first White House visit
By Guy Dinmore and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Published: April 24 2006 18:28 | Last updated: April 24 2006 18:28

The US will finally give the recognition sought by President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan this week by granting his first formal visit to the White House since he succeeded his father in 2003.


Sandwiched between Russia and Iran, Azerbaijan’s geopolitical status as a western-friendly, Muslim-majority country sitting on oil and gas riches makes it too important to shun despite the risk of charges of double standards in how the US deals with autocrats.

Mr Aliyev has troops alongside US forces in Iraq – where it was a founding member of the “coalition of the willing” – as well as in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

“The Bush administration has given Aliyev the cold shoulder for two years, but then realpolitik sets in,” commented Zeyno Baran, director of Eurasian Policy Center at the Hudson Institute in Washington.
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http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ea2a35a4-d3b6-11da-b2f3-0000779e2340.html



President Ilham Aliyev


The Caspian Pipeline
With New Pipeline, Azerbaijan on Verge of Oil Boom

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....Azerbaijan is considered to be one of the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International, a corruption watchdog group. Azerbaijan was also the first former Soviet republic to witness a dynastic succession. In what international monitors described as flawed elections, Ilham Aliyev became president after his father, Haidar Aliyev, died in office.

"The government belongs practically to one family that has complete control over all kinds of government decisions at all levels," says Ilgar Mammadov, an Azerbaijani political scientist and former opposition party member.

Harvard University's Brenda Schaeffer says very few oil-rich countries become successful democracies.

"It's very hard to give up power when you're making billions of dollars a month," she says.

Last November, Azerbaijan held parliamentary elections which international observers say were rigged. Inspired by the peaceful revolutions in neighboring Georgia and Ukraine, opposition leader Ali Kerimli tried to organize a sit-in with thousands of demonstrators. He says it was violently crushed by security forces.

"They clubbed and wounded more then 90 people," Kerimli says. "Many people have been arrested. Five months later, we're still not allowed to organize rallies. I don't understand how oil can blind you to the suffocation of democracy here."
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5348075