Probability of riots high in Azerbaijan, expert says

PanARMENIAN.Net - Unless external forces interfere, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will be able to retain power, according to the director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at Armenian National Academy of Sciences.

Commenting on the list of potential hot spots published by the Wall Street Journal, Ruben Safrastyan noted that there’s a major probability of riots in Azerbaijan.

“The situation is conditioned by several factors. The power in Azerbaijan was transferred from father to son, which is negatively perceived by the society. Besides, activation of religious radical groups has been observed in the country over the last years,” the expert stated.

The Wall Street Journal has published recently a list of countries likely to be hit by anti-government revolts in the future. The top 10 potential hot spots are led by Kenya and Cameroon and include Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia, Morocco, Jordan and Azerbaijan. Libya, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia are in the next 10, together with Vietnam, India and Uzbekistan. The top 30 is then made up of countries including Colombia, South Africa, Iran, Venezuela, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan and Brazil. Saudi Arabia is 39 out of the 85, Russia is 40 and Kuwait is 51. The highest-ranked European Union country is Romania at 37.

Bottom ranked is Sweden followed by Austria, Canada, Denmark and Germany. In terms of oil producers, Norway, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates look pretty safe.

Armenia is not on the list.