AZERBAIJAN: No 'veiled meaning', just a compliment

Azeris daily newspaper Yeni Musavat reports local experts' debate over appointment of woman ambassador

The Straits Times
Saturday, July 14, 2007

Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet republic on Europe's south-eastern edge, is not often in the news, although it recently gained some attention, after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that the Americans may place their anti-missile defence shield there.

But the Azeris themselves are preoccupied with another problem: the fact that Britain appointed a woman ambassador to their country.

The appointment is hardly unusual. But some think it has a deeper meaning, for she is joining her US counterpart, also a woman, in the country.

This week, popular daily newspaper Yeni Musavat canvassed the opinions of local experts about the significance of this female invasion.

"There are people," wrote a correspondent, "who think that this shows decreasing interest on the part of the USA and the UK in the democratic process in our country."

And why should this be? Because, according to the sources, "women...do not like roughness," so "they will not be able to give a reaction as appropriate as men do to developments in non-democratic countries."

But one of the experts disagreed. "Why should women not be represented in high posts?" he asked, before adding that "women are actually more democratic than men."

None of the pundits hit upon the simplest explanation: that the appointment of two female ambassadors is partly a coincidence, partly a compliment to Azerbaijan itself -- a Muslim country where females are encouraged to play a bigger role in political life.

Date Posted: 7/14/2007