In Mexico, the Federal Administrative Court dismissed the request of the Azerbaijani embassy to prevent the city authorities from dismantling the monument to Heydar Aliyev, reported the local “Cronica” publication.
The monument was erected in the central park in Mexico City last summer. Azerbaijan invested about five million dollars in the reconstruction of that park as a return favor. However, the erection of the monument caused protests of local human rights activists. Criticism was recently sponsored by the government’s spokesman who said “a monument to the dictator does not bring honor to Mexico.”
In late November, a commission of experts recommended that the city authorities removed the monument to Heydar Aliyev from the central park to a different location. The experts considered that there was no place to Aliyev near Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln and national heroes in Mexico.
Azerbaijani embassy has opposed the attempts to remove the monument to Aliyev. “If the monument is removed, it will cause a sharp deterioration in the relations between Azerbaijan and Mexico, investments will not be made, and the most extreme measure – is the closing of the embassy,” warned Azerbaijani Ambassador to Mexico Ilgar Mukhtarov.
The Azerbaijani Embassy appealed from the decision of the city authorities to the district court requesting an injunction to stay the decision of the City to remove Heydar Aliyev’s monument. The district court considered this request in November 2012, and refused. On January 9 the Federal Administrative Court upheld that decision (Turan).
