Azerbaijan, Baku, July 27 / Trend T.Hajiyev /
The struggle to head the Azerbaijani Musavat opposition party has been exacerbated with the approach of its congress, a party member who requested anonymity told Trend.
Candidates for the post have started to use various methods with a view to weaken competitors.
In particular, according to the interlocutor, the party leadership initiated a campaign to weaken Party Central Executive Office Chief Arif Hajili.
Before Hajili's arrest on April 2, he was the main rival for Musavat Council Chairman Arzu Samadbayli. Now Samadbayli have more opportunities.
Although Hajili is under arrest, he had a very strong position within the party that prevents Samadbayli to the party leader, the source said.
Hajili's supporters do not want to hold the Congress before his release from custody. The source noted that one of the actions aimed at undermining Hajili's position was the closure of the Democrat newspaper, which was under his control.
"The closure of the newspaper is the Musavat leadership's initiative and is aimed to remove Hajili's supporters from the publication. The newspaper will publish again a few months later," he said.
Democrat newspaper Chief Editor and Hajili's brother, Mustafa Hajibayli named the financial difficulties as the resaon for the closure of the paper. However, he said this was done upon the newspaper's Founder Elshan Ganiyev's decision.
