A letter sent by Ramiz Mehdiyev, former head of the Presidential Administration and the National Academy of Sciences, to certain circles in Russia regarding a coup d'état plan has been made public.
According to the letter's text, Mehdiyev proposed entrusting control over the activities of the three branches of power in the country - legislative, executive, and judicial bodies - to a special p called the “State Council”.
The letter notes that the “State Council” should consist of 50 people, and these members should be selected from experienced statesmen, economists, lawyers, and representatives of science and culture.
In a statement to Modern.az, political scientist Elkhan Shahinoglu stated that Ramiz Mehdiyev wanted to copy the Iranian system to Azerbaijan:
"Ramiz Mehdiyev has added another one to the illogical decisions he made in the past with his “plan”. The “State Council” is illogical, and no self-respecting country has such a structure. Perhaps he thought of copying the Iranian system to Azerbaijan. In Iran, there is both a president and a parliament, but according to the constitution, the supreme p is the supreme leader and his entourage. If this mechanism had been successful for Iran, the situation there would not be so dire today. Discussions are already underway in Iran itself that the existing constitution is not working, and parliament should have high powers so that reforms can be carried out in the country. If Ramiz Mehdiyev has thought of copying the Iranian system to Azerbaijan, it can never take root in Azerbaijan.
His second proposal also contradicts the "State Council". On the one hand, he proposes the creation of a State Council as a supreme p, and on the other hand, he desired the formation of a parliamentary republic. Well, if Azerbaijan is to become a parliamentary republic and parliament is to appoint the Prime Minister, why should the "State Council" control parliament? If parliament is to appoint the Prime Minister, then why should the "State Council" control parliament?
Parliament will be elected by the voice of the people, but who will appoint the "State Council"?
It appears that Ramiz Mehdiyev used the logic of making himself the head of the "State Council" and placing his supporters there, thereby controlling both parliament and the Prime Minister. In the past, he used to have one-page articles in the "Azerbaijan" newspaper, and none of them contained logic. Similarly, he prepared his current ”plan” in this manner".
The political scientist emphasized that the most interesting issue concerns who will be elected to Mehdiyev's "State Council":
"Ramiz Mehdiyev likely intended to include his own people in this "council" - those who were formerly in positions in the Administration, or whoever remains now. He also wanted to include former and current members of parliament there. Unfortunately, there are not few such people in Azerbaijan. Because during his 24 years in office in the Administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev placed his people in various structures. They have always been loyal to Ramiz Mehdiyev's policies and flattered him. I even remember, in 2018, I had an argument with a committee chairman. The committee chairman claimed that Azerbaijan should have been a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). I, on the other hand, argued the opposite and said that Azerbaijan could not be in the same military bloc as Russia, which supports occupying Armenia. The dispute was ended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's answer to a Russian journalist's question: "Azerbaijan will not join any military bloc." The conversation was concluded. It was clear that those who made the proposal served the interests of Ramiz Mehdiyev and the network he established. He also wanted to include such people in the "State Council"".
