Statue of Heydar Aliyev, Mexico City
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| Statue of Heydar Aliyev | |
|---|---|
| Spanish: Estatua de Heydar Alíyev, Azerbaijani: Heydər Əliyevin heykəli | |
.jpg) The statue in 2012 | |
 Former location in Mexico City | |
| Medium | Bronze |
| Subject | Heydar Aliyev |
| Dimensions | 3.60 m (11.81 ft) |
| Condition | Removed |
| Location | Mexico City, Mexico |
| 19°25′27″N 99°10′46″W / 19.4242°N 99.1794°W | |
The statue of Heydar Aliyev[a] is a bronze sculpture of the third president of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, previously installed along Paseo de la Reforma, in Chapultepec, Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City. It has been removed after drawing mass criticism from human rights activists.
In the early 2010s, the Embassy of Azerbaijan in Mexico donated two statues to the city. The first was the statue of Aliyev, installed on 22 August 2012 in the former Mexico-Azerbaijan Friendship Park in Chapultepec. The second, a woman mourning the Khojaly massacre, was placed in Tlaxcoaque Plaza. According to Ilgar Mukhtarov, Azerbaijan's ambassador to Mexico, both statues were given to the country as a gesture of gratitude to Mexico for being one of the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan's independence.
After its installation, the statue of Aliyev drew criticism from neighbors and human rights activists, who considered it disrespectful and insensitive due to his controversial political background. Members of the Azerbaijani community, however, expressed support for the monument. On 26 January 2013, the government of Mexico City removed the statue and returned it to the Azerbaijani embassy. Since then, the location and status of the statue have not been publicly disclosed.
Khojaly massacre memorial
Heydar Aliyev was an Azerbaijani politician who served as president of Azerbaijan between 1993 and 2003.[1] Aliyev has been criticized internationally, being described as an "iron fist" leader,[2] "dictator",[3] and "authoritarian".[4]
According to Ilgar Mukhtarov, Azerbaijan's ambassador to Mexico, negotiations for the sculptural project began in 2008, though it was not until 2010 that they were formalized. He stated that the initiative aimed to show appreciation to Mexico for being one of the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan's independence.[5] On 13 July 2011, both nations signed an agreement to start the project.[6] In the same month, it was endorsed by the Citizens' Governing Council of Chapultepec Park (Spanish: Consejo Rector Ciudadano del Bosque de Chapultepec; CRC).[7] However, during the controversy around the statue, members of the panel later said they were ignorant to the abuses attributed to Aliyev. Committee member Monica del Villar said the proposal "presented to us was completely different from what they built."[8]
The designated area was named "Mexico-Azerbaijan Friendship Park" (Spanish: Parque de la Amistad México-Azerbaiyán),[9] and was located along Paseo de la Reforma, on the edge of Chapultepec.[10] The area covers 1,700 square meters (18,000 sq ft), and it is illuminated with solar street lights.[7] Construction began in April 2012.[7] The statue was donated by the Azerbaijani embassy in Mexico,[7] stands 3.6 meters (12 ft),[11] and was shipped from Azerbaijan.[7]
On 22 August 2012, Marcelo Ebrard, then head of government of Mexico City, inaugurated the project.[5] Tracy Wilkinson of the Los Angeles Times criticized the memorial, first describing it as "Aliyev [sitting] on a white marble pedestal [with] his name embossed in golden letters", placed "in front of a jagged stone map of Azerbaijan", taking note of their failure to mention its ranking as "one of the most corrupt countries".[8] The map is almost 8 meters (26 ft) tall.[9] Will Grant of BBC News described that a plaque referred to Aliyev as "a great politician and statesman", and criticized the Azerbaijani embassy of employing "Stalinesque control".[12]
Additionally, the embassy donated a second statue, which was installed in Tlaxcoaque Plaza.[13] The accompanying plaque originally described the Khojaly massacre as a "genocide",[14] though it was later revised to read "massacre".[15] The embassy also donated approximately Mex$65 million[16] (around five to six million US dollars)[10][12][b] which were allocated for improvements to the former Friendship Park and Tlaxcoaque Plaza.[12] According to Mukhtarov, the embassy did not transfer funds directly to the city government but instead paid private construction firms to carry out the work.[12]
Reception
By November 2011, after conducting further research on Aliyev,[10] the CRC withdrew its endorsement and requested that the city government reconsider the installation of the statue.[19] According to Mexican writer and former CRC member Denise Dresser, "[after requesting them to reconsider it,] they thought we were making a mountain out of a molehill [...] They were clueless and they were ignorant, and we alerted them to the fact that they were clueless and ignorant."[10]
Controversy started by early September 2012.[14] On 27 September, residents of Chapultepec protested the statue's installation, calling it "disrespectful and insensitive".[20] Eduardo Farah, a community activist, led a small demonstration consisting of 20 people, where they waved banners calling for "the removal of the dictator".[8] The National Human Rights Commission recommended its removal.[21] Elnur Majidli, organizer of the 2011 Azerbaijani protests, also criticized the project,[6] saying that corruption was involved "necessarily" in the project.[20] Alexander Lapshin, a journalist that was arrested by Azerbaijani authorities due to a visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, compared the statue's installation to Mexico erecting a monument to a drug lord.[22] Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, then serving as Mexico City's international affairs coordinator, commented that it "does not honor Mexico City, and Mexico City does not have any reason to honor him".[17]
In October, Eduard Nalbandyan, then-Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, expressed concern to Patricia Espinosa, then-Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, regarding the statue of Aliyev and the classification of the Khojaly massacre as "genocide", which conflicted with the position of the OSCE Minsk Group.[6] Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in a longstanding geopolitical conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since the October Revolution of 1917 and do not maintain diplomatic relations.[23]
Mukhtarov said the information concerning Aliyev was "erroneous and manipulated by the Armenian opposition",[20] adding that Aliyev "abolished capital punishment and promoted policies that improved Azerbaijan's economy".[24] On 27 November 2012, 30 Azeri protesters based in Mexico called for the statue to remain in place; however, the statue was removed regardless.[25]
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