DUSHANBE, February 25, 2010, Asia-Plus — Western election observers realize well that elections in Central Asia can be only as such as they are now and they cannot be different, Tajik political scientist Rashid Ghani Abdullo said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, neither Western countries themselves nor we attach importance to western observers’ criticism of polls in Tajikistan.
“All their criticism is no more than slyness,” said the expert, “Though, desire for dissembling dissatisfaction with impossibility of quick change of realities in the region in the direction good for them is noticeable behind this slyness.”
What ever the Tajik parliamentary elections results, the West will “grumble a little” as usual and saying a number of stock phrases about little compliance with international standards, it will agree with their results, Rashid Ghani Abdullo noted.
“The West does not have alternative,” said the expert. “Today, the West needs Central Asia’s countries more than they need it. The reasons are obvious – the West today has problems in Afghanistan and concerns about reviving military-and-political power of Russia. Besides, the West is concerned over increasing influence of Russia in the region, which is rich in hydrocarbons.”
Therefore, the West has no choice but to try to get sympathy of the incumbent leaders of the Central Asian region, he noted.
The expert added that unlike political elites of other CIS countries Tajikistan does not have an inferiority complex towards the West. “Orientation toward the West is absolutely irrelevant for Tajikistan,” said he. “Our country has different, its own guidelines allowing it to respond to criticism”
