Intigam Aliev: the civil society of Azerbaijan should rely on its own forces

On January 14, the Coalition in Support of Civil Society in Azerbaijan held debates in the office of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS) on the problems of NGOs. The debate points were in the problems of NGO registration and the latest changes in the legislation, enabling to restrain the activity of the civil society. According to Intigam Aliev, chairman of the Society of Legal Education, the civil society of Azerbaijan, actually deprived of any international support, should rely on its own forces.

According to Oktai Gyulalyev, head of the Society of Democratic Reforms, as of today, Azerbaijan has about 3500 NGOs; of them, 2527 have state registration. "A number of active NGOs are forced to operate without registration, since they are rejected one, while the courts ignore their complaints," he said.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports that Intigam Aliev has stated that, in spite of passage by the European Court of Human Rights of 4 decisions related to ensuring state registration of NGOs in Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Justice continues to reject registration of the NGOs disliked by the authorities.

He also criticized the Council of Europe, OSCE and other western structures, which, according to his version, resort to "conformism with the authorities of Azerbaijan and roll up their cooperation with unwanted NGOs." "The civil society of Azerbaijan, in fact deprived of the international support, should rely on its own forces," Mr Aliev said.