In a speech addressing newly appointed local officials in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev warned the officials of the consequences of corruption, which he said stemmed from officials in Baku who were recently removed.
During a meeting with new appointees held in Nakhchivan on Wednesday, Aliyev stated that some state agency heads received bribes and were susceptible to corruption. He warned the new officials against ‘illegally enriching themselves’.
‘The Azerbaijani public is well aware that every government official who makes a mistake will ultimately answer to the courts and the law, and such cases, unfortunately, still exist today. However, it is also clear to the public that no illegal action will go unpunished’, Aliyev said.
In his speech, Aliyev stressed that some local officials were forced to commit illegal actions by orders of figures in the central government in Baku, but said that ‘no trace of these officials left’.
As a result of personnel reforms carried out in the civil service system of Azerbaijan, especially in the central executive bodies, the situation has significantly improved. Therefore, I am absolutely confident that from now on you will not be given illegal instructions from the centre’.
‘Similar cases have occurred before, and the officials who issued these illegal orders, considering illicit enrichment their primary goal, are now facing legal action’, Aliyev said, without specifying whom he was referring to.
In his speech, Aliyev only used the word corruption once, instead preferring to use the phrases ‘illegal activity of authorities’, ‘greedy, and insatiable officials’, or other similar descriptions.
In its 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International ranked Azerbaijan 22 out of 100. In 2000, it ranked a record low of 15 on the index, while it reached its highest score of 31 in 2017.
Aliyev’s speech on corruption followed the arrest of Islam Rzayev, the head of the local government in Balakan, on 30 October. Rzayev was appointed to the role by Aliyev in May 2011. He was charged with embezzlement on an especially large scale and repeated bribery and was remanded into four months of pre-trial detention. The authorities have not provided the details of Rzayev’s alleged crimes.
Aytan Farhadova
