Empire of the Ring

Chapter 719: Aliyev’s Choice (1)

“Your Highness, this is very surreal. I never imagined this day would come.”

It was three days after the ceremony of Azerbaijan’s federal transfer when Sevan, who was now the Minister of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, visited the royal palace in Serbian Ranch.

After the event, Youngho and the royal family stayed at Zeynep Farm and moved to the Serbian ranch today.

Fatima and the children were attached to the farm and hated leaving the place, but the farm was crowded with residents, workers on the farm and factories.

There was a security problem, so they had to move.

“Why didn’t you come to see me at once? Earl Park and Karajan missed you badly.”

Park Jong-il’s wife, Karajan, was a cousin of Sevan.

“I have eyes around me, so I was a little self-conscious. I came to see you upon hearing that you moved to the ranch.”

“Is it that serious?”

He was politically checked because he was related to Park Jong-il, the influential figure of the Kazakh royal family.

Only the people of Azerbaijan looked up to the royal family, but the establishment did not like it.

The appearance of the royal family, no matter how symbolic it might be, was bound to be, as they had been enjoying a peaceful life in their own league.

“Oh, I’m just being careful not to cause trouble to the royal family. Now that Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are like one body, we’ll be able to resolve a lot of disparate parts.”

The disparate parts referred to the changes entailed from the nation’s change from a presidential-centered state to a constitutional monarchy.

“Are secret police officers still active these days?”

Sevan looked embarrassed at Youngho’s question.

Under his leadership, the secret police force had a separate reporting line at the presidential palace.

His hesitation to respond immediately represented everything.

“There is nothing we can do because Armenian spies are out there. We can’t guarantee Azerbaijan’s well-being without the presence of secret police because operations to undermine the government are still going on.”

“You’re not spying on the royal family, are you?”

“No way. If I received such an order, I would have stepped up and stopped it.”

Azerbaijan people often said that there were ears on the ground.

This was because people who criticized the dictatorship were frequently captured secretly by the secret police force. It was a powerful force closely related to the administration.

“It’s a shame to say this as soon as I meet you, but I don’t think there should be any more violation of human rights. I need your cooperation. Can you help me?”

Allowing violation of human rights would be a disgrace to the Kazakh royal family, which was known for its impartiality.

“I know very well what you are concerned about, but I hope we don’t clash with the government as much as possible.”

Sevan lowered his voice and spoke cautiously, “You mean the royal family should just stay as a puppet?”

“That’s not what I meant. If your demand is not accepted by the Aliyev administration, it will only undermine the royal authority. The power of the regime is so strong that it is better to just watch for the time being and wait until we have a chance.”

Sevan seemed to be on Youngho’s side to give such advice. He was bound to be as he was related to Park Jong-il, and he was good friends with Youngho since he was a mere director of the Main Police Department.

President Aliyev appointed Sevan as interior minister for a smooth relationship with the Kazakh royal family, which now came back as a huge setback.

He never dreamed of Azerbaijan becoming a federal state.

However, he could not fire the interior minister he appointed because if he dismisses him with a reason for having a close relationship with the royal family, it would clearly reveal how the current administration viewed the royal family.

“What chance are you talking about?”

“There will be over-the-top human rights violations soon. Since we became a federal nation, democratic civic organizations had been very active.”

“…”

“They campaign for President Aliyev’s retirement. The unprecedented appointment of the president’s wife as vice president has angered civic groups.”

Aliyev recently made a bad move of appointing his wife as vice president to strengthen his regime, which angered civic groups in Azerbaijan.

Monitoring the movements of civic groups disgruntled with the regime was tantamount to saying that the government would soon launch a massive arrest operation.

With such an operation, the police’s human rights abuses were bound to happen.

Sevan asked the royal family to intervene when that happened to cut the chain.

“That would make it hard for you to avoid criticism.”

“The National Police Agency has been persecuting anti-government groups. We are prepared to take responsibility if we face any problems later.”

Sevan’s face was grim.

He was determined to take responsibility for his past sins if necessary.

Even so, he had no choice but to serve as a maid of power.

“I’ll take care of that. So please stop persecuting the people opposing the current regime. There’s always a way to deal with it without reporting it to the higher-ups.”

“Your Highness, you must never defend me. I don’t want to trouble the royal family because of me. What we’ve done so far won’t go away no matter what. I can only blame the fact that I was born in the wrong era, and I’m ashamed to turn my back on people who were on the same boat.”

With such a determination, it seemed it would be easy to breathe fresh air into the police organization. He was willing to receive punishment for the organization’s past crimes.

“If we can correct it now, we should. Don’t blame the times. The people will understand if you show them efforts to change. Only by showing the courage to reject unjust instructions can we reverse our mistakes.”

Youngho assiduously persuaded Sevan.

However, he did not intend to cover up his past wrongdoings.

He was a friend but also one of the corrupt officials.

The only way to get rid of the power of the Aliyev government was to hold the powerful organization in hand, and it was hard to find anyone as qualified as Sevan.

***

“You know, you were the one who took the lead in offering bribes and entertainment to government employees in the early days, isn’t that right?”

“Why are you bringing up the past? I just followed directions. I’m sure keeping our mouths shut won’t hurt our longevity.”

“I thought you did it because you liked it. You drank with the officials together all day and night.”

“Oh, are you now blaming me?”

Park Jong-il snapped.

There were no government officials in Baku who did not get along with Park Jong-il.

Some were still maintaining close ties with Park Jong-il.

“Just give me a list of officials who were bribed and entertained by you then.”

“What? Why on earth do you need that list?”

“We need someone to be our hands and feet.”

In addition to the police, Youngho needed officials to be the hands and feet of the royal family.

There was no gap to squeeze in in the government in President Aliyev’s grip.

That was why he was trying to bring even government officials who took bribes from Park Jong-il to side with the royal family.

“If we open up what the intelligence service has found out, everything will be solved. Why are you trying to take the hard way?”

“What would people think of our royal family if they find out that the Kingdom of Kazakhstan’s federal state was stained with all kinds of corruption? And if the Azerbaijani government finds out that the intelligence service was mobilized, our enemies will only increase. First of all, we need an internal ally, so make secret contact with officials who are close to you.”

“It’s the fastest way to open Aliyev’s slush funds…”

Jong-il insisted on releasing Aliyev’s slush funds to the press.

“What if he denies it? Aliyev must have his own scenario ready for something like that already. That’s why I’m trying to shake it from the inside. He’ll feel a crisis if his followers keep falling apart. Soon, he will have to seek asylum or make a compromise to save himself.”

“Then should we encourage more pro-democracy protests?”

“No, that will only put Sevan in trouble. The police are the ones who are going to clash with the demonstrators.”

When the royal family left Baku, the massive arrests would happen, and that was why Youngho wanted to prevent clashes between people and police as much as possible.

Sevan might have been a notorious interior minister, but he should be seen as the interior minister who put human rights first from now on.

Should the only power institution standing on Youngho’s side be shaken?

These days, Aliyev had become more worried.

Joining the federal government and bringing the royal family to the forefront was expected to stabilize the regime, but anti-government groups were calling for democracy more severely than ever before and staging demonstrations throughout the country.

He wanted to capture all of them immediately, accusing them as spies from Armenia, but the Kazakh Queen and Duke had not yet returned to Kazakhstan, so he had not been able to act.

It was because he was told that the royal family was particularly interested in human rights, so he only waited for them to leave.

“I’m trying to find out what Aliyev is up to. A source says that he is preparing for a dangerous game.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It was said that he was working on a plan to connect Nakhchivan with the mainland.”

The territory of Azerbaijan, which existed like an island in western Armenia, was Nakhchivan.

It was a place bordering Iran, where residents of Nakhchivan traveled to and from the mainland through the Iranian border.

The idea of connecting Nakhchivan with the mainland was tantamount to taking away part of the Armenian territory, which meant war.

“Why is he trying to stir up a disturbance when the Iranian people don’t even have a problem with the movement of residents of Nakhchivan?”

As far as Youngho knew, roads and railways were connected along the Iranian border from Nakhchivan to the mainland, so it was not too inconvenient to go back and forth.

“He must be trying to divert the public’s attention to quell the demand for democracy. It’s also a way to condemn anti-government groups as spies.”

“Spies? Would people believe it?”

“Azerbaijan is an absolute dictatorship. What can’t he do if he can divert the public’s attention?”

Now that the country has managed to get over the foreign exchange crisis, it was an important time to struggle to revive the economy, but Aliyev was putting it on the back burner and planning the wrong thing because of his political purposes.

“What does he believe in when the country has just gone through a financial crisis in close proximity? Is he out of his mind?”

“You think he cares about the economy when his regime is shaking because of our royal family? Maybe he believes we’ll clean after his problems.”

“He must be dying to come down from power to do that.”