Alexander Dzasokhov: "The national peculiarity of the Azerbaijanis is conscientious behavior"

Interview by Maria Sidelnikova exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

Yesterday the Central Election Committee of Azerbaijan finished counting of votes from all polling stations at the presidential elections. According to the CEC, current President Ilham Aliyev gained 84.55%. Alexander Dzasokhov, the former president of North Ossetia, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, deputy chairman of the Russian Commission on UNESCO Affairs, commented on the results of the elections in an interview to Vestnik Kavkaza.

-    Alexander Sergeyevich, can you draw some parallels between the elections which ended just recently in Azerbaijan and presidential elections in other post-Soviet countries?

-    They can be compared, and the difference between the states of post-Soviet period is great. Azerbaijan is characterized by the fact that for many decades in this country and especially in its capital, Baku, there were several generations of the technical intelligentsia. These are competent scientists associated with the petrochemical area, oil and gas exploration; their contribution not only to the Azerbaijani oil and gas area but also to this area of our great country of the Soviet Union is enormous. Therefore, the electorate here has a solid training. The city itself has a reputation of an international city. These traditions are not drowned, they still live in generations, especially the older generation. This is one point of difference. And the second one is a national trait of Azerbaijanis, it is conscientious behavior. And here they are different. They do not have any bright, deliberately aggressive behavior. Even if there is a variety of thought, it does not turn into a long standoff, although, of course, at the turn of the 1990s, Azerbaijan has experienced a lot of different events.

Iit so happened that the continuity was preserved, answering the question, of responsible politicians between generations. Of course, the younger Aliyev and the senior Aliyev Sr. are son and father. But there are times that the next, the son, cannot keep the bar. And in this case, the potential is preserved, and it is modernizing the state. This also distinguishes Azerbaijan.

Another feature, of course, of Azerbaijan, I especially appreciate, is that there are deep religious and spiritual traditions there, I have already said it. But still there is an understanding that religion is one thing, Sharia law and so on, and a modern state, with its notions of society, state and personality, is quite a different thing.

-    What do you expect from the third presidential term of Ilham Aliyev?

-    I, as a politician, hope that a new political cycle will give us an opportunity, it is very important, to deepen our cooperation in the field of the common Caucasus problems. We must strive to ensure that conflicts do not divide the Caucasian states, so that they just give rise to a desire to find solutions agreed in difficult discussions in the interests of the Greater Caucasus.

-    Will the changed regional situation demand new approaches?

-    The geopolitical reality is fundamentally different. Now, along with the Caucasus states that were called the "Caucasus four" , we have to consider that there are two new independent states - the Republic of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. All following major initiatives must be taken with consideration of this geopolitical reality. Only by recognizing this fact and the need for this vision we can successfully address the serious issues of concern in the long term.