MUSAVAT PARTY MARKS 100th ANNİVERSARY

Musavat Party Marks 100th Anniversary

The Musavat Party held a conference today dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the party. The event named, "Musavat: 100 years of independence and freedom" was supported by the German Friedrich Naumann Foundation and attended by representatives of international organizations, diplomatic corps representatives, public figures, and Azerbaijani intelligentsia.

The forum reflected on Musavat's 100 year history and discussed the human rights and fundamental freedoms situation in Azerbaijan, political prisoners, and freedom of speech and expression.

Renee Cluf, the head of Friedrich Naumann Foundation's South Caucasus and Central Asia Office said that Musavat played an important role in the last 100 years of Azerbaijan's history. "The Musavat party joined Azerbaijan's fight for independence and sovereignty in the early 20th century and if it were not for the party leader Mammad Amin Rasulzadeh, the independence of Azerbaijan would have perhaps developed differently. The Musavat party has had an important role in the second phase of independence as well. This party implemented important activities in the spheres of democracy, equality, ruled of law, and good relations with neighbors. This is totally in line with Europe's liberal values and despite multiple challenges, the party has not given up advocating for liberal values," he emphasized.

The Vice-President of Association of European Liberals, Dick Roche noted that fundamental values such as democracy, rule of law, equality of people, freedom of assembly, and freedom of speech are being violated today. "As liberals, we strongly condemn the existence of political prisoners, arrests of Musavat party activists and other politically motivated detentions. The government should implement the obligations undertaken through the Eastern Partnership program. The developments in the human rights situation is a matter of concern for us -- liberals," he noted.

In his speech the leader of Musavat, Isa Gambar, said that the 100-year history of the party is a story of the struggle for freedom. Gambar said that looking back at the history of the party and that of its founder, Musavat, in the early 20th century, gave the citizens of Azerbaijan an opportunity to form a multiparty electoral system and a parliament, and helped give women the right to vote. Musavat also put forward the idea of a House of the Caucasus to oversee the region. In 1991, Musavat was part of Azerbaijan's road to independence. Now we are living in independent Azerbaijan and we are proud of it.

Gambar urged the authorities to take a strong foreign policy. "We need to start real European integration. In Warsaw, Ilham Aliyev spoke about democracy, but on returning to Baku he immediately jailed democracy advocates.

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