Azeri politics is nothing if not interesting of late.
In late spring and early summer, unimpeded protests made it seem as if Azerbaijan might just have been making a step in the right direction. And then came the crackdown [See the August 2005 posts in the Azerbaijan archive].
And then, more or less out of the blue there’s not only another opposition rally in the capital (with loads of illicit orange clothing) but a touchy-feely “Democracy is super!” commentary from Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the US in today’s Washington Times. (For commentary on Mr. Pashayev’s commentary, visit Blogrel.)
One could be forgiven for thinking that the fairness of Azerbaijan’s parliamentary elections relies solely on where the pendulum happens to be on the day of the vote.
I got the above photo from Vesti, whose story (in Russian) has video from the protest.
This post was written by...
Nathan Hamm – author of 2040 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan founded Registan.net in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural factors shape risks and opportunities. Follow him on Twitter or drop him a line.