Azerbaijan Communist Party (1993)

The Azerbaijan Communist Party ("Azərbaycan Kommunist Partiyası") is a political party in Azerbaijan. AKP was set up in 1993 by Ramiz Ahmadov ( March 6, 1939 - September 10, 2007 ) and registered by the Justice Ministry in 1994. The Party is plagued by splits ever since its formal foundation, with each faction claiming to be the real Communist Party of Azerbaijan.

Ideology

AKP maintains close contacts with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation but it is not against the country's independence. In one occasion Ahmadov stated: "we are Narimanovists, followers of the national, cultural and economic ideas of Nariman Narimanov." ^{[http://www.ncsj.org/AuxPages/050901Jamestown.shtml]}
Nariman Narimanov was a moderately nationalist and leftist Azeri leader of the 1920s, and is viewed in retrospect as a forerunner of "national communism."

AKP often criticizes US politics in the region. In 2004 after the US State Department told that US was not planning to impose sanctions on Nagorno Karabakh separatists, Ahmadov said that the Americans underhandedly supported the Armenian interests and that Washington was not interested in the settlement of the conflict. He also added that the great powers are making use of the Karabakh conflict for their own interests.

AKP was strongly against the Azeri partecipation into the Iraq war and it often expressed solidarity to Palestinian people, to Cuba and also to "socialist Moldova".

Leaders

On September 10, 2007, party chief Ramiz Ahmadov died after a long illness. His body was sent for burial in his native Quba. From 2000 to 2005 Ahmadov had been a member of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan.

The charmain is now Rauf Gurbanov who obtained the leadership of the party after a long dispute with Rustam Shahsuvarov.

Results

The party claims that it has 60.000 members.

AKP publishes "Azerbaijan Hagigaty".

At the parliamentary election of 5 November 2000 and 7 January 2001, the party won 6.3 % of the popular vote and 2 out of 125 seats.

At the parliamentary elections of 6 November 2005 won no seats, but the chairman Ramiz Ahmadov was not running due to health problems.

At the municipal election of 17 december 2004, the party did very well and it elected 128 members to the local municipalities.

At the presidential election that will be held in Azerbaijan on 15 October 2008, AKP decided to support the candidate from the Yeni Azerbaijan ruling party, current president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev ^{[http://www.today.az/news/politics/48023.html] [http://www.today.az/news/politics/47610.html]} .

AKP is part of the Union of Communist Parties — Communist Party of the Soviet Union

External links

* [http://www.kommunist.az/ Official site]
* [http://www.kke.gr/cpg/int_meet/interventions/azerbaidjan.html Intervention of the late Azerbaijan Communist Party leader Ramiz Ahmadov during the 80th birthday of the Communist Party of Greece]
* [http://www.kprf.ru/party_live/51447.html Statement of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation on leader Ramiz Ahmadov's death]