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By Elmar Chakhtakhtinski

Azerbaijani President Aliyev is visiting the United States. As expected, different experts, lobbyists and politicians will be explaining the reasons why the leader of a corrupt regime with one of the worst records on human rights should be supported as America’s “strategic ally”. In doing so, too smart to use any crude propaganda materials produced by the government in Baku, they will resort to their two most popular arguments.

First, the apologists will say that a young country like Azerbaijan, stuck in a turbulent region, currently requires a strong leader more than democracy. That is what can provide stability and continuity much needed for securing both the country’s own future and the Western interests in the region. Sounds reasonable, thoughtful – exactly as a real expert opinion should?

I will put aside doubts about Ilham Aliyev’s leadership strengths. The fundamental problem is that when we talk of “strong leaders” people usually think of George Washington, Charles De Gaulle, or someone perhaps closer to Azerbaijan, like Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Those indeed were determined personalities, real leaders who have spent their lives for the future of their nations. By their actions, they demonstrated noble intentions as well as solid moral principles and dedication to achieve them from the very early days of their public lives.

But the history also witnessed a long chain of equally “effective” leaders, whose actions have led to great disasters for their own people and, sometimes, for a greater humanity. From Stalin and Hitler to Saddam Hussein and Kaddafi, we have examples of strong-willed individuals who, pursuing either a populist but malevolent ideology or a more basic personal thirst for fame and money, have inflicted terrible pain and suffering on people. They were of a varying caliber and destructive capability, but the world would have been a better place if none of them would have ever climbed to power.

So, what is Ilham Aliyev’s vision for Azerbaijan, his moral code and guiding principles? Which of the two groups of leaders he is closer to? I would dare to suggest that the answer lies in the reports of mega-million dollar mansions and secretive off-shore holdings owned by his family, wholesale falsification of every single election, brutal crackdown and shameful tactics deployed against dissenters and free media, illegal property seizures and many other gross trespasses continuously committed for almost two decades under the rule of father-and-son Aliyevs.

We also saw the danger of totalitarian “continuity and stability” ending in seemingly sudden explosions of angry dissent: from thousands dying in Egypt protests with still undetermined results of their revolution, to the bloody civil war in Libya resulting in the dictator’s corpses dragged on the highway, to the still continuing massacre of Syrian people by the Assad regime. In all these instances the Western powers found themselves desperately rushing in search of a proper response and were left facing uncertain prospects. The truth is that we can’t know how long a given “stable” authoritarian regime can last, but betting the national interests of free nations on the endurance of corrupt dictatorships does not sound like a responsible foreign policy choice.

The other favorite line is that “democracy takes time”, “it cannot happen overnight” and Azerbaijani people might not be fully ready to it now. Who, indeed, can blame the Azerbaijani government that their country does not run in the same way as United States or Switzerland? Again, the problem is in the improper associations such proposition is based on.

Nobody expects countries like Azerbaijan to quickly transfer themselves into mature democracies - it might not happen even in several decades. But is it too much to ask for the Azerbaijani people to have at least one free and fair election in 20 years? Are they not ready for a leader not implicated in rampant corruption? How long should they wait for being able to live without fear of their private homes being bulldozed over their heads in the center of capital city? Should it really take decades before journalists, bloggers, and political opponents stop being murdered, physically attacked, jailed under obviously fabricated charges and blackmailed with sexual videos?

True, Azerbaijan is not unique in the problems it faces - many countries have similar or worse regimes. But telling Azerbaijanis that they might not be ready yet for something better than the neo-feudal mafia-like Aliyev dynasty really requires a twisted logic and goes against the very basic principles of any civilized society.