Prime Minister Milanović was very angry at the protest of the House of Human Rights and the Center for Peace Studies. He drew a line and clearly sees that Azerbaijan is not an overly undemocratic country, and he is disgusted by the fact that one day we will come to the Government with suitcases asking them to fill them with money, and then we won't be interested in where they came from.
We sent him a prompt reply, but also sat down and calculated how much money we actually receive from the state budget. The amount for the Center for Peace Studies is 3% of the total budget for 2012, to the House of Human Rights 8%, and BaBama 13,43%. Ne bismo baš dugo djelovali kad bi o proračunskim novcima ovisilo naše postojanje, n’est ce pas?
Here is the statement on the statement: Statement from the Human Rights House regarding the statement by Prime Minister Zoran Milanović regarding the protest by the Center for Peace Studies and the Human Rights House
We congratulate the Prime Minister on his ingenious statement regarding the protests organized by the Center for Peace Studies and the House of Human Rights during the visit of Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan. The leader of a social democratic party and the Prime Minister of a country that claims to be democratic and respectful of human rights has truly shown that he understands what a developed democracy and responsible citizenship are. We have just a few questions and comments:
Mr. Milanovic,
1.) Who authorized you to determine the line above or below which a country falls when assessing its undemocratic regime?
2.) On what basis do you claim that Azerbaijan will never be a democratic state? Remember that only 15 years ago Croatia had similar problems, but we fought against them, and in that fight, you and your party once participated and then you considered civil society's support for democratic changes desirable!
3.) Have you perhaps heard about the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and how will you comment on its Resolution on Azerbaijan adopted on January 23, 2013? Will you also tell them that they have no idea what they are talking about and where they should draw the line?
4.) Do you know what the role of organizations that protect human rights is in developed democracies?
5.) Znate li da je našoj partnerskoj organizaciji, Kući ljudskih prava u Azerbejdažnu zabranjen rad od 2011.? Poslat ćemo im Vašu izjavu. 6.) Hoćete li možda slijediti primjer Muasira Musafata, vođe azerbejdžanske stranke koja je uz Alijeva? On je, naime, javno obznanio da će platiti nagradu od 12000 dolara osobi koja odreže uho spisatelju Akramu Aylisliju kojem su, nezadovoljni romanom o sukobu Armenije i Azerbejdžana, oduzeli naslov “Narodnog pisca”, oduzeli mu mirovinu i naredili da ga se izbaci iz Društva književnika? Postoji li neko uho koje biste Vi rado vidjeli odrezano?
6.) On the eve of the elections, will you ban the work of GONG, if it is okay that the Center for Election Monitoring and Analysis of Democracy is not allowed to work in Azerbaijan?
7.) Do you know how NGOs in the Republic of Croatia, the country of which you are the Prime Minister, are allocated funds from the state budget: certainly not by someone coming to the Government to collect money, but through a competition with very strict selection criteria!
I još nešto, je li novac koji nam navodno dajete vaš ili dolazi od svih poreznih obveznika? Mi smo znači Vama teret, a ne organizacije koje odrađuju posao jer ga Vlada i njezine insitucije na svim razinama nisu u stanju sami odraditi pa “podižemo cijenu” države u kojoj svi živimo? S obzirom da se u svom “govoru” pozivate na zaštitu predsjednika RH, moramo vas obavijestiti da za razliku od Vas, predsjednikovi komentari odražavaju razumijevanje uloge i cilja organizacija za zaštitu ljudskih prava, te razloge zbog kojih smo reagirali.
For the Human Rights House: Sanja Sarnavka, President of the Board of Directors of the Human Rights House
