Azerbaijani ‘eminence grise’ causes uproar following critique of granddaughter’s large wedding during epidemic
An angry reaction in Azerbaijan has followed the edifying appeal to the public of the President of the Academy of Sciences Ramiz Mehdiyev, who for many years was the head of the presidential administration and was considered an eminence grise.
However, not everyone had time to read the appeal:
Mehdiyev’s tone was so unacceptable that it was removed from all news sites. And the website of the Academy of Sciences, where the post was originally published, turned out to be temporarily unavailable.
In his appeal, Mehdiyev was outraged by the punishment of 15 days of arrest, which was received by his closest relatives for organising a large wedding for his granddaughter despite the coronavirus regulations in the country which limit large scale gatherings.
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In the statement that disappeared, Ramiz Mehdiyev speaks of double standards.
The son-in-law, ex-deputy Ilham Aliyev, and the father of the groom, colonel of the special services Rovshan Mustafayev, received a term of 15 days each.
Mehdiyev considers this punishment to be correct, but considers the flow of criticism on social media to be unfair:
“On the same days, some other high-ranking officials had weddings and other celebrations. However, it is strange that all the media attention is directed to my granddaughter’s wedding.”
“I am ready with patience to listen to the criticism of those who praised me yesterday. But do they have a moral right to criticize others? The moral lessons that shameless people teach to the people can only cause disgust.”
After this statement appeared on the website of the Academy of Sciences, the entire website went down.
Experts explained this by the sharp increase in the number of visits to the site. When it started working again, Ramiz Mehdiyev’s statement was no longer there.
