Sobhani: If Azerbaijanis have choice to vote via referendum, no one can criticize them

By Azernews

By Gunay Camal 
 

Azerbaijan stands alone in a sea of chaos in global affairs, claimed CEO of the U.S. Caspian Group Holdings Rob Sobhani.

Sobhani made this remark, commenting on criticism of Azerbaijan by Western institutions and organizations on the eve of the referendum on making amendments to the constitution.

“Its [Azerbaijani] leadership has been wise, independent, responsible and forward thinking. If the people of Azerbaijan have the choice to vote for more of the same via a referendum, then it is their right and no one can criticize them,” he told Trend.

The referendum in Azerbaijan is scheduled for September 26, and proposes amendments to 29 Articles of Azerbaijan’s current constitution. The changes envisage the extension of the presidential term from five to seven years, the establishment of the first vice-president and vice-president positions in the country as well as the cancellation of minimum age limit for presidential candidates, dissolution of parliament by the president.

What is important to realize is the total ineptitude of Western powers at solving more pressing issues such as global terrorism, the crisis in Syria and its subsequent refugee crisis, he said.

The expert pointed out that over 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives, 4 million people are homeless, Africa is struggling with massive poverty and North Korea is on the verge of starting a nuclear war with its neighbors.

“In this situation, the Western media should praise, not criticize Azerbaijan for being a stable country, with religious tolerance and at peace with its neighbors,” added Sobhani.

Azerbaijan is trying to resist the onslaught of Western institutions for many years, which are trying to undermine the situation from within.

Only several days left to a day of constitutional referendum vote in Azerbaijan, the Venice Commission made the negative statement on the proposed changes to the Constitution of Azerbaijan.

Many in the country consider this statement a pressure tool to the referendum. The Azerbaijani side condemned these statements, stressing that they are biased and one-sided, and assessed this as a political order.

The Commission made such a statement only few days left to the referendum despite the fact that the referendum bill was revealed in July and refused to work with the government of the country to study the referendum bill and instead criticized the government for its attempts to reform and upgrade the state management system.

Moreover, the conclusion of the commission had obvious mistakes far from reflecting the reality having technical mistakes, gaps and violated its internal procedures. It even made a reference to Article 159, which totally lacks.

Clarifying the purpose of the amendment to the Constitution, Shahin Aliyev, head of Department of Legislation and Legal Expertise of Azerbaijani Presidential Administration said: “We are not talking about getting president and vice-president additional power it’s about improving governance.”