Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

[londontsi]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

Turgut Özal was poisoned by Heydar Aliyev?

Could someone who knows Turkish translate what is being said in this video?

My Turkish is a bit rusty but basically he is describing how Ozal had prepared/ready to sign agreement of mutual defence between Turkey and Azerbaijan
during the meeting he was offered ( in Baku ) a lemonade ( suspected poison ) which was the cause of his death.

Heidar Alieve is the accused.

The poison was delay actioned.
The source of the poison is Bulgarian contacts.
A Bulgarian "friendly" source admitted it.

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

Azerbaijan: Writer Buckling Under Strain of Literary Controversy
February 14, 2013 - 2:00pm, by Shahin Abbasov Azerbaijan EurasiaNet's Weekly Digest Azerbaijani Politics Culture
The furor that erupted over his unconventional take on Azerbaijan in the early 1990s is taking a toll on writer Akram Aylisli.

Aylisli’s latest work, titled “Stone Dreams,” shuns a nationalist viewpoint on events, in particular the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory, offering instead a generally sympathetic portrayal of Armenians. Its publication last December has touched off a full-throttle hate campaign against Aylisli, a campaign somewhat reminiscent of that unleashed against Salman Rushdie following the 1988 release Satanic Verses. Aylisli, along with family members, have been subjected to official retribution. And, in the most notorious instance of hate-mongering, Hafiz Haciyev, head of the pro-government Muasir Musavat Party, offered a 10,000 manat (roughly $12,000) bounty to anyone who cut off the author’s ear.

In a February 13 interview with EurasiaNet.org, Aylisli, appearing exhausted and jittery, said that the harassment, which he described as the most difficult experience in his life, is forcing him to consider leaving Azerbaijan. The police, he added, have taken no measures to protect his family or him from possible physical attacks.

“I do not want to leave Azerbaijan. I am 75,” he explained. “I didn’t decide yet, but it looks like I will have to ask for political asylum abroad. It is sad.”

Aylisli’s case has raised the question of whether a country like Azerbaijan is capable of reconciling sensitive episodes in its history with a constitutional guarantee for freedom of speech. For many in Azerbaijan, the answer appears to be no. But some aren’t willing to sacrifice free speech at the altar of national pride.

While few agree with Aylisli's negative group portrayal, in which ethnic Azeris harshly treat ethnic Armenians in Baku during the Karabakh conflict, local human-rights activists, representatives of opposition parties and ordinary social-network users are speaking out strongly against the anti-Aylisli campaign.

Staging fake funerals for Aylisli’s books, burning his works, banning his plays and urging people to cut off his ear “is not less harmful for the country” than the novel’s “deceitful lampoon” of Azerbaijan’s past, argued popular detective writer Chingiz Abdullayev, president of the Azerbaijani PEN-Club. “People should not behave this way,” he added.

A small group of young Azerbaijani writers rallied in support of Aylisli on February 3 to reaffirm his constitutional right to write what he wants, no matter what it may be. “No one can impose a ban on a writer, pressure him,” commented 27-year-old writer Gunel Movlud. “It is censorship otherwise.”

The 2012 extradition to Azerbaijan and subsequent official pardon of Lt. Ramil Safarov for the murder of an Armenian army officer in Hungary was the event that pushed Aylisli to publish his novel, which, he said, contains stories “based on real life.”

“When I saw the crazy reaction and the artificial fueling of hatred between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, which went beyond any borders, I decided to publish my novel,” he said.

A writer, he insisted, has the right to express his thoughts in his novels without their being considered a traitor.

But President Ilham Aliyev has treated him as just that. Adding fuel to the hate-campaign, the president stripped Aylisli of the title of “people’s writer,” and of his pension. Meanwhile, Aylisli’s son, Najaf Naibov, was fired from a senior position in the State Customs Committee, and his wife, Galina, was dismissed as the head of a children’s public library.

Various members of parliament have lambasted Aylisli’s work as treasonous and have called for him to be stripped of his citizenship -- even though the Azerbaijani constitution bars such a measure. Others go still further. “Some MPs accuse me of being an ‘Armenian,’” Aylisli recounted. “Is it a crime to be Armenian? It is racism.”

On February 13, Sheikh-ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazade, head of the Caucasus Muslims Office, a government ally, tossed another dart by denouncing Aylisli as an “infidel.”

The fact that the campaign against Aylisli gained steam only in recent weeks -- over a month after Stone Dreams appeared in the December 2012 issue of the Russian-language literary journal Druzhba Narodov – leads some Baku observers to believe that it is intended to distract popular attention from recent, violent protests in Baku and the regional town of Ismayilli.

A few suggest official displeasure is rooted in Aylisli’s less than flattering depiction of Heydar Aliyev, the incumbent leader’s deceased father. Officially, Heydar Aliyev is venerated as the chief architect of independent Azerbaijan. “Stone Dreams” features the late president, who headed Azerbaijan’s Communist Party for nearly 20 years during the late Soviet era, but refers to him only as “the master.”

Regardless of whether Aylisli remains in Azerbaijan or leaves, more controversy could be in the works. Stone Dreams is part of an envisioned trilogy, the first installment, titled Yemen, was published in 1990. The last installment, tentatively titled Big Traffic Jam, hasn’t been officially published. But Aylisli, seeking feedback, has distributed a limited number of drafts in Baku among friends and colleagues. He declined to discuss the novel’s focus, but reiterated his intent to publish it. A person who has seen a draft told EurasiaNet.org that the story examines “crimes” allegedly committed during the 1993-2003 presidency of Heydar Aliyev.

Publication of a clear-cut denunciation of the elder Aliyev could pose an even more severe free-speech test for Azerbaijan than that generated by Stone Dreams. One literary son of the Caucasus, the bestselling Russia-based author Boris Akunin, had some words of advice. “[M]y dear Azerbaijanis,” he wrote in his blog, “Don’t you know that the state … cannot win in a war with a writer?”

Editor's note: Shahin Abbasov is a freelance reporter based in Baku.

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66556

[londontsi]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21459091

15 February 2013 Last updated at 01:09

Azeri writer Akram Aylisli hounded for 'pro-Armenian' book
By Damien McGuinness BBC News, Tbilisi

His books have been publicly burnt. He has been stripped of his national literary awards. And a high-ranking Azeri politician has offered $13,000 (Ł8,400) as a bounty for anyone who will cut off his ear.

But 75-year-old Akram Aylisli, one of Azerbaijan's most eminent authors, does not regret having written his short novel Stone Dreams.

The book has shocked many Azeris. But could it also prove the first tentative step towards peace with the country's longstanding enemy Armenia?

"I knew what I was writing. They say I offended the nation. But I think quite the opposite: I think I have raised my nation up," he told the BBC by phone.

"I could predict they would be unhappy. But I could never have predicted such horrors, such as calls for a writer to be killed, or his book to be burnt. It is very sad that our nation is humiliating itself in this way. A country that can burn books will not be respected by the rest of the world."

The book describes Azerbaijan's conflict with neighbouring Armenia through the 20th Century. But it details the massacres of Armenians by Azeris, portraying the tragedy of war from Armenia's perspective.
Scars of conflict

Azerbaijan is still traumatised by losing both the war in the 1990s and almost 20% of its territory - the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent areas. So depicting Azeris as perpetrators is shocking enough. To entirely leave out accounts of Azeri suffering is for many unforgiveable.

After the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991, Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a brutal war in which both sides suffered enormously, with up to 30,000 people killed and a million forced to flee their homes.

Today, despite a tenuous ceasefire, the two countries are still locked in conflict, with dozens killed every year.

But even some of the book's critics, such as Azeri opposition activist Murad Gassanly, condemn the persecution of its author.

"With the exception of ultra-liberal circles, very few people actually liked the book or its message," he explained.

"(But) the book burnings, street protests and calls for violence against the author were orchestrated primarily by pro-government circles.

"There is no freedom of assembly in Azerbaijan - it is impossible to gather and collectively read books, let alone burn them! The fact that these protests were allowed, protected by police and then shown on national state TV suggests that they were orchestrated from the top."

Azeri government officials could not be reached for comment.
National vitriol

President Ilham Aliyev himself signed the decree stripping Aylisli of his national awards and monthly literary stipend.

Ruling party parliamentarians demanded he leave the country or that his DNA be tested to see if he was really Azeri, and not in fact Armenian. And high-ranking government officials called him a traitor, saying "public hatred" was the correct response. Aylisli's wife and son both lost their jobs in state-controlled institutions.

The calls for violence against Aylisli - echoing Iran's notorious fatwa against British author Salman Rushdie - have sparked strong condemnation from abroad.

Suddenly aware of the harmful effect a state-sanctioned bounty against a writer could have on Azerbaijan's international image, on Wednesday, after a warning from the government, the head of the Modern Musavat party retracted his call for Aylisli's ear to be cut off.

Many analysts believe the vitriol against the author was an attempt by the authorities to divert attention from a wave of anti-government protests, which had swept the country in January.

There are signs that increasing numbers of Azeris are dissatisfied with the growing disparity between rich and poor under President Aliyev, who faces an election in October. And members of his government are accused of corruption.

"It's not unusual for the government to find a common enemy and unite around it," said Giorgi Gogia from Human Rights Watch. "And it's not the first time that freedom of information and free speech are under attack."

At least five journalists critical of Azerbaijan's government are currently behind bars, on what human rights activists describe as trumped-up charges.

And in January two well-respected opposition politicians, one of whom intends to run in October's presidential elections, were arrested, accused of organising anti-government protests. They are being held in pre-trial detention, which in Azerbaijan can last more than a year. If found guilty, they could face years in prison.
Distorted history

Stifling free speech not only quashes political dissent. The fear is that it could also be harming Azerbaijan's chance of ever making peace with Armenia.

"This book tackles the issue which needs to be discussed in society: looking at the past," says Mr Gogia, who believes Aylisli was extremely brave by being the first high-profile Azeri author to show sympathy towards victims from the other side.

"Freedom of speech applies not only to those ideas that are favourable. But even more so to those that shock and offend."

For decades the historical narrative in both Azerbaijan and Armenia has failed to focus on the tragedies suffered by the other side.

"Peace can only be achieved by kindness, not with anger. With anger you can never solve this issue," said Aylisli.

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

Azerbaijan broke up a protest (added video) - Updated 17:30
At least 150 people were arrested during today's protest against the soldiers' deaths. Among them: the journalist Khadija Ismayilova, youth activists Turgut Gambar Abulfaz Gurbanli Beyim Hasanli, Kenan Gasimli Ruslan Asad Rauf Mammadov, Ayaz Khalilzad Aghababa Mamedov, Osman Akhmedov, Orhan Babaev, etc. According to the party "Musavat", beaten and gassed already on the bus. Police also detained a number of parents who lost their sons in the service. They came to the square with portraits of their dead children, but police beat them and dragging on the asphalt to buses and arrested.

----

Azerbaijani authorities have used water cannons and military equipment to disperse the peaceful rally in central Baku. During the operation, law enforcement agencies arrested several hundred protesters directed against deaths in the armed forces of Azerbaijan.

On the streets of Baku came about 3 thousand citizens. The action was attended by youth activists and relatives of the dead soldiers. With the slogan "Down with the Safar Abiyev", "Resign! , "" Police, do not torture their people, "" Do not go away! "The protesters approached the Fountain Square, where they were waiting armed with rubber bullets and water cannon riot police. The clashes with police Protestants, most of the protesters were beaten and arrested.

To disperse the demonstration in the square fountains moved to the park named after Sabir, which also were beaten and arrested. To date, several dozen activists entered the seaside boulevard. Detained a prominent journalist, Khadija Ismailova. She said that with her on the bus for over thirty prisoners. Many of them feel bad, because inhaled tear gas. There are people injured by rubber bullets.

Note that the wave of arrests of activists began a few days before the rally. So, on the night of March 8 arrested three youth activists NIDA, and the evening of 9 March, police broke into the AF Hotel, located in Baku settlement Novkhani and arrested youth activists of various parties. The hotel has received training OSCE. Police used force and there are victims.

Arrested about 25 activists. The trainings attended by representatives of the pro-government parties, who were not detained. After the intervention of the OSCE, the activists returned to the police station to the hotel, but the participants are still under police surveillance. According to information received, the police had beaten the Polish representative to the OSCE. Among the arrested member of the youth wing of the Musavat Yegana Hajiyev, PPFA - Abulfaz Gurbanli Samir Asadli. They were taken to the police department of Binagadi.

A few hours before he was arrested a member of the youth wing of the Popular Front Elnur Majidli. And earlier arrested on the eve of and contained in the MNS members of the movement NİDA Shaheen Novruzlu, Bakhtiyar Guliyev and Mahammad Azizov were on TV «Space».

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

[Mher]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

14 January 2013
Azerbaijan opposition leader ambushed amid pre-election clampdown

A thorough, independent investigation is needed into what appears to have been an orchestrated attack on Azerbaijani opposition presidential candidate Isa Gambar on the campaign trail, Amnesty International said.

According to Gambar’s Musavat Party, he was on his way to campaign in the southern coastal city of Lenkoran on Sunday when 10 vehicles attempted to block his convoy at the city’s entrance.

A Musavat spokesperson told Amnesty International that a crowd of more than 100 people then pelted the candidate’s convoy with rocks and eggs taken from nearby trucks, smashing the car windows. Nine people in Gambar’s entourage were injured including several who were punched and kicked and Musavat Party deputy leader Gulagha Aslanli, who had his foot run over by a car.

During the ambush, a Musavat Party photographer, Mehman Karimov, was briefly detained for questioning by men in plainclothes who appeared to be directing the crowd. He was released after they returned his camera.

Police officers who were nearby did not intervene, but Gambar and his convoy managed to flee the scene – only after being rammed by a truck and followed for several kilometres by a group of around five cars.

“The apparently organized nature of the ambush on Isa Gambar’s convoy and the failure of the police to intervene is clearly very worrying and needs to be investigated,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Director for Europe and Central Asia.

“The authorities must launch an immediate investigation into the incident. Meanwhile Azerbaijan’s European partners should be demanding an explanation for how a serious assault on the opposition Presidential candidate was allowed to take place.”

The ambush came just 10 days after Gambar announced his intention to run for President in the October 2013 elections, and the day after scores were arrested at a major opposition protest in the capital Baku.

Around 2,000 people had gathered in Baku on Saturday to protest against the death of a young army conscript who is believed to have been tortured to death.

Although the protest was not organized by a political party, according to human rights and opposition activists, at least 50 opposition activists were targeted and arrested by police. At least 22 were charged and handed large fines on Monday between 300 and 600 AZN (US$380-760). According to the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan, US$513 is the average monthly wage in Baku.

“Despite recently releasing a number of prisoners of conscience, the Azerbaijani government continues to arrest opposition activists for peacefully expressing dissent,” said Dalhuisen.

“Coupled with the attack on the opposition candidate, this does not bode well for a fair and free presidential election in which the fundamental rights to freedom of assembly and expression are respected.”

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/azerbaijan-opposition-leader-ambushed-amid-pre-election-clampdown-2013-01-14

[Vahram]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

LOL love the guys speech, I hear that he had it written by an Englishman in this forum...ROTF

[Vahram]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

This just in I believe this is in Baku, looks like a lot of people.

They do riot like baboons...LOL

[Artashes]

Re: Azerbaijan - Internal Political Affairs

That's a shxt load of hybrid mongoloids .
My trigger finger automatically started twitching .
So many targets .
Artashes