“Starting from May 1st, the Non-Governmental Organization I lead has begun the project ‘Analysis of legislative acts in the field of municipalities,’ which is financially supported by the Agency for State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Over the course of 3 months, our project will involve holding 4 events in several municipalities operating in Baku, conducting discussions on internet television platforms with well-known members of parliament, specialists, and experts in this field, and preparing 5 educational programs to be broadcast in national media and on social networking platforms.”
This statement was made to the national press by Niyamaddin Ordukhanli, Secretary General of the AHD Party, NGO chairman, and political scientist.
According to him, the main goal of the project is to establish the legislative basis for decisions and acts made by local self-government bodies—municipalities—in Azerbaijan, organize educational work, improve the municipal management system as much as possible, expand their activities, and increase their powers:
“I have been leading a Civil Society Institute for over 20 years. The main principle of our organization is aimed at the development of the municipal institution in our country. To date, we have successfully implemented a large number of projects in various directions. We will implement this project at a very high level as well. First of all, on behalf of our organization, we express our deep gratitude to the leadership and members of the Agency for State Support to NGOs, as well as everyone who contributed, for creating these conditions for our organization. This year, the State Support Agency has once again supported the implementation of important projects related to Azerbaijan’s most vital and priority areas. Support has been provided for important projects, whether it be the protection of our state and national interests, the support of projects written in the social direction, or projects related to the liberated Karabakh, as well as our ancient land of Western Azerbaijan and other fields.”
According to NGO chairman Niyamaddin Ordukhanli, there is a 26-year history of the establishment of municipalities in Azerbaijan:
“The first municipal elections were held in 1999. Although there were 2,700 municipal entities that year, municipalities have since been merged and the number reduced to 685. Today, 8,071 municipal members are elected to municipalities. At one time, this figure was over 21,000. One of the main directions of our organization’s charter is to contribute closely to the development of the municipal institution in Azerbaijan. Our project this year will also involve holding meetings in a number of municipalities operating in Baku and implementing the execution plan envisaged in our project.”
According to Ordukhanli, the project will operate for 3 months:
“The participation of at least 100 people is expected in our project. Events and meetings will be held mainly in the administrative buildings of the municipalities, with the joint participation of municipal leaders, municipal members, municipal employees, and citizens living in the municipal territory. We plan to hold meetings mainly in municipalities operating within the territory of Baku. As you know, the 6th municipal elections were held a few months ago. The representation of new municipal chairmen and new members has taken place. Our project will also include organizing educational work in the direction of building close relations between the municipality and the citizen. There will also be discussions in this direction on internet television with well-known experts and members of parliament. As you know, all laws are adopted in the Milli Majlis, which is the legislative body. During the project period, we will first hold meetings with the municipal leadership and bring the points important in legislation to the attention of the members of parliament. As representatives of Civil Society, we very much wish for municipalities in Azerbaijan to have broader powers, just like in developed European countries. Including our brotherly Turkey, where municipalities operating there have broad powers and opportunities. In fact, municipalities in Azerbaijan do not have broad powers. We hope that important decisions will be made in this direction in the coming years. Finally, I would like to state that information about the project carried out by our organization will be intensively disseminated in the local press, social networks, and internet televisions over the 3-month period.”