Ilham Aliyev The President who went to war – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

The story in 100 words

• Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, but its population is majority Armenian.
• As the Soviet Union saw increasing tensions in its constituent republics in the 1980s, Nagorno-Karabakh voted to become part of Armenia – sparking a war that stopped with a ceasefire in 1994.
• Note: No Lasting Statement/Peace Deal was signed in 1994.

The story in 100 words

• Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh has remained part of Azerbaijan but is controlled by separatist ethnic Armenians backed by the Armenian government. Until recently, negotiations mediated by international powers had failed to deliver a peace agreement.

Latest Development

• On the morning of 27 September 2020, clashes in the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resumed along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact.
• Both the armed forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia reported military and civilian casualties.

• War is Won Ilham Heydar Oglu Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s President, has regained some of the territory the country lost to its neighbour in the 1991-94 war.

About Ilham Heydar Oglu Aliyev

• 1994-2003: Vice-president of SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic)
• A long political career began.
• Anointment as Prime Minister by his ailing father and former President ahead of the 2003 Presidential bid.

Appointed as President in 2003 October

• Mr. Aliyev’s 17-year rule has been marked by an authoritarian style of governance at home, leveraging the country’s oil wealth and the pursuit of deft diplomacy abroad.
• Mr. Aliyev dispensed with the constitutionally stipulated two term limit for the President in a 2009 referendum, one year after his re-election.

2016 Referendum

• His tightly controlled 2016 referendum to alter the constitution was severely criticised by the Venice Commission, a Council of Europe body which monitors constitutional law.
• Among the sweeping changes were the extension of the presidential term from five to seven years and the creation of the office of Vice President.

Made His Wife as VP

• The position of VP, occupied by Mr. Aliyev’s wife Mehriban Aliyeva since February 2017, makes her a potential frontrunner for the presidency.
• Many activists challenged this appointment.

• The European Parliament in the previous year adopted a resolution condemning the ban on peaceful protests in the capital Baku since 2006 and the intimidation and repression of defenders of human rights under Mr. Aliyev’s watch.

Challenges Remain…

• The bigger challenge before the 56-year-old leader is to win the hearts of the thousands of Armenians in the area restored to his country, who must live alongside the Azeri population.
• Right through the six-week confrontation, however, Mr. Aliyev demanded an apology from Armenia, ruled out a dialogue and insisted on the capture through military force of the Armenian majority region of NagarnoKarabakh.

Disregarded Principles

• The President’s handling of the dispute demonstrated a total disregard of the 1975 Helsinki principles of the Organisation for European Security and Cooperation (OESC), which prohibit the use of force and accord recognition for the equal right to self-determination.

2020 is no different from 1994

• And then he launched the war in late September and the military gains seem to have bolstered his strongman image.
• The peace-keeping deal, however, is not substantially different from the ceasefire of the 1990s the senior Aliyev brokered but without any lasting settlement.
• That’s the challenge President Ilham Aliyev is facing even amid victory.

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