Azerbaijan's Choices: Right Or Wrong?

Azerbaijan is a country with a complex political history and a problematic human rights record. Since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the country has been dominated by the Aliyev family, with Heydar Aliyev serving as president from 1993 to 2003, and his son, Ilham Aliyev, taking over in 2003. The country is considered to have an authoritarian regime, with power concentrated in the hands of the president and his extended family. Elections are often fraudulent, with international observers never deeming them free and fair. The ruling New Azerbaijan Party controls all electoral commissions, and opposition parties are repressed. There are widespread reports of human rights abuses, including torture, media censorship, and the persecution of political opponents. The country's politics have been described as right-wing, with a dynastic style of rule.

Azerbaijan's human rights record

Freedom of Expression and Assembly

Azerbaijan has been criticised for its suppression of freedom of expression and assembly. The government has been accused of harassing and imprisoning political activists, human rights defenders, and journalists. In 2022, restrictive media laws were introduced, requiring media outlets to register with the authorities. This has resulted in the closure of independent media entities on arbitrary grounds. Peaceful protests have been violently broken up by police, and the work of independent organisations has been restricted.

Torture and Ill-Treatment

Azerbaijan has been accused of torture and ill-treatment of detainees, particularly those held on politically motivated charges. In 2023, there were reports of torture and ill-treatment in police custody and places of detention. In one case, a religious activist was arrested on what he claimed were bogus drug possession charges. His father reported seeing visible bruises on his son's arms after visiting him in prison.

Discrimination Against Minorities

In the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, hate speech against Armenians is prevalent in the Azerbaijani media. Minority groups such as the Lezgin people and the Talysh people face discrimination and are pressured to assimilate into the dominant Azeri identity. The Talysh people have also suffered from the long-term deprivation of cultural and educational rights, as well as economic neglect.

Freedom of Religion

Azerbaijan's government follows a strictly secular and anti-religious ideology, and freedom of religion is substantially curtailed. Religious literature is censored, and religious institutions are closed down if they are deemed objectionable by the state. Political speech by religious institutions is forbidden, and clerics are not allowed to run for political office.

Labour Rights

Labour rights in Azerbaijan are constrained, and labour rights activists face repression. While the law nominally allows the formation of labour unions and the right to strike, in practice, most unions collaborate with the authoritarian regime, and many categories of workers are prohibited from striking.

LGBT Rights

LGBT people in Azerbaijan face significant challenges, including ill-treatment, extortion, arbitrary detention, and discrimination. There is no legal protection for LGBT people, and social acceptance remains low.

The country's political prisoners

Azerbaijan has been accused of violating human rights standards established in international law, including the imprisonment and harassment of political activists and human rights defenders. The country's government has been described as hostile to dissenting voices, targeting critics and political opponents with dubious charges.

Journalists and Bloggers

• Mehman Aliyev, director of the independent Turan news agency
• Seymur Hazi, a journalist who served a five-year sentence for a politically motivated hooliganism conviction
• Polad Aslanov, editor of independent news websites Xeberman and Press-az, jailed on treason charges
• Mustafa Hajibeyli and Anar Mammadov, journalists with small, independent news websites
• Afgan Mukhtarli, Ziya Asadli, Araz Guliyev, and Elchin Ismayilli, journalists who publicly criticized the authorities

Members of Opposition Parties and Movements

• Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, an opposition activist who helped organize Arab Spring-style protests
• Jabbar Savalan, an opposition activist who was given a prison term on unrelated charges
• Ogtay Gulaliyev, a human rights and environmental activist
• Seven young activists, including four board members, of the Nida Civic Movement, charged with preparing riots during protests in Baku
• Orkhan Bakhishli, Fuad Ahmadli, and Asif Yusili, leading members of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP), imprisoned on bogus drugs, private data misuse, and forgery charges, respectively
• Pasha Umudov, an APFP member arrested and sent to pretrial detention on bogus drug charges
• Ali Aliyev, an Azerbaijani court issued the third sentence in six months to him, recognized as a political prisoner by human rights activists
• Ali Karimli, the APFP chairman banned from foreign travel since 2006
• At least 17 members of Muslim Unity, an unregistered, conservative Shiite movement, imprisoned on extremism and other charges

Political Emigrants Deported from Germany

Several arrests of Azerbaijani activists deported from Germany have sparked concern among political migrants, who claim that the German government has made a deal with Baku regarding the extradition of oppositionists

Believers

• Fagan Mammadov, a religious activist sentenced to six years in prison on charges of drug trafficking
• Abid Gafarov, sentenced to a year in prison for calling on Karabakh war veterans to protest against injustice

Convicted in the "Terter Case" and "Ganja Case"

27 people convicted in each case

Life Sentences

13 people

Freedom of the media

Azerbaijan's record on freedom of the media has been steadily worsening over the years. The country's ranking on the Press Freedom Index reflects this decline, with Reporters Without Borders ranking Azerbaijan 154th out of 180 countries in 2022. The situation is characterised by a range of issues, including the imprisonment of journalists, censorship, and the blocking of independent and opposition websites.

State Control of the Media

The Azerbaijani government exerts strict control over the media, with most Azerbaijanis receiving their information from mainstream television, which is unswervingly pro-government. The majority of print and broadcast media are controlled by the government and its allies, with independent media outlets struggling to survive. The few independent outlets that do exist are based abroad, such as Azadliq and Meydan TV, as they are targeted by state censorship.

Censorship and Self-Censorship

Censorship is prevalent in Azerbaijan, with the government using a range of measures to restrict freedom of the media. This includes limiting opposition and independent media outlets' access to print-houses and distribution networks, as well as intimidating journalists through tactics such as imprisonment on fabricated charges, defamation charges, and crippling fines.

Self-censorship is also widespread among Azerbaijani journalists due to the constant threat of government reprisal.

Attacks and Threats Against Journalists

Threats, physical attacks, and harassment of journalists are common in Azerbaijan. In 2003, nearly 100 journalists were victims of physical assault, with more than 50 attacked while covering violent clashes between security forces and demonstrators. In recent years, there has been an increase in cyberattacks and online intimidation of journalists, bloggers, and social media activists.

Suppression of Dissent

The Azerbaijani government has a history of suppressing dissent, with authorities frequently imprisoning journalists, human rights defenders, and political opposition activists, often on bogus criminal charges. Defamation and libel laws are also used to stifle critical and opposition journalists, with civil defamation suits resulting in crippling fines.

International Condemnation

The state of media freedom in Azerbaijan has been condemned by several international organisations, including Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House, Amnesty International, and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Efforts to Preserve Media Freedom

Despite the challenges and the new restrictive media law, independent journalists in Azerbaijan remain committed to preserving media freedom and plurality.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

In 1923, the Soviet Union established the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, which had a 95% ethnically Armenian population. Throughout the Soviet period, Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast faced heavy discrimination as the Soviet Azerbaijani authorities worked to suppress Armenian culture and identity, pressured Armenians to leave the region, and encouraged Azerbaijanis to settle within it. Despite this, Armenians remained the majority population.

Amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, tensions between the two groups escalated. A 1988 Nagorno-Karabakh referendum was held to transfer the region to Soviet Armenia, citing self-determination laws in the Soviet constitution. This act was met with a series of pogroms against Armenians across Azerbaijan, leading to violence committed against both Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

The conflict escalated into a full-scale war in the early 1990s, known as the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, resulting in the deaths of thousands and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. The war was won by Armenia and led to the occupation of regions around Soviet-era Nagorno-Karabakh. There were expulsions of ethnic Armenians from Azerbaijan and ethnic Azerbaijanis from Armenia and the Armenian-controlled areas. A ceasefire was signed in 1994 in Bishkek, leading to two decades of relative stability.

However, tensions continued to simmer, and in April 2016, a four-day escalation resulted in hundreds of casualties but only minor changes to the front line. Then, in September 2020, large-scale fighting broke out once again, known as the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. This conflict resulted in thousands of casualties and a significant Azerbaijani victory, with Azerbaijan regaining control of the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh and capturing one-third of Nagorno-Karabakh itself.

The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War ended with a ceasefire agreement in November 2020, but border tensions and clashes have continued since then. In December 2022, Azerbaijan blockaded Nagorno-Karabakh, leading to a humanitarian crisis in the region. This was followed by a military offensive in September 2023, resulting in the dissolution of the ethnic Armenian enclave and the flight of most of its population to Armenia.

The conflict has also had a significant impact on the geopolitical dynamics of the region. Russia has played a role in mediating ceasefires and deploying peacekeeping forces, while Turkey has provided military and diplomatic support to Azerbaijan. Iran has officially maintained a neutral stance and called for a peaceful settlement, but there are allegations of tacit Iranian support for Armenia during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The conflict has also drawn in other international actors, such as the United States, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which have attempted to mediate and resolve the dispute.

Azerbaijan's relationship with Armenia

Azerbaijan and Armenia have a long history of conflict, with five wars waged between the two countries in the last century. There are no diplomatic relations between the two countries, and their relationship is strained. However, there have been recent efforts to improve relations and work towards a peace treaty.

History of Conflict

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan dates back to the early 20th century, with both countries laying claim to disputed territories. This led to the Armenian-Azerbaijani War between 1918 and 1920, which ended when both countries were annexed by the Soviet Union and became constituent republics.

During the Soviet era, relations between the two countries were generally peaceful, but there were occasional confrontations, including public protests in Armenia in 1948 and 1964, which resulted in the exodus of a large number of Azeris. In the late 1980s, the Armenians of Karabakh voted to secede and join Armenia, which led to pogroms of Armenians in three Azerbaijani cities and the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. This war resulted in de facto Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories, with a ceasefire in place since 1994.

In 2016, 2020, and 2023, new clashes broke out between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. The most recent conflict, in 2023, led to the dissolution of the ethnic Armenian enclave in Nagorno-Karabakh, with Azerbaijan launching an "anti-terrorist" offensive and reclaiming control of the region.

Recent Developments and Peace Efforts

Despite the bloody history and repeated disappointments, there are hopes for a long-term accommodation between the two countries. In 2023, Armenia and Azerbaijan released a joint statement for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, agreeing to exchange prisoners. This was positively received by ordinary users on social media, who called for peace.

At the October 2022 European Political Community summit, the leaders of both countries met and confirmed their commitment to upholding the United Nations Charter and recognizing each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty. A European Union mission was deployed to the Armenian side of the border for two months, leading to a longer-term European Union Mission in Armenia.

In May 2023, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Moscow and agreed to recognize each other's territorial integrity within Soviet-era administrative borders. This was followed by another meeting at the second EPC summit in June 2023, where discussions focused on transport links, border delimitation, security, and the rights of the ethnic Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh.

However, there are still challenges to achieving a peace treaty. Azerbaijan has refused offers of mediation by third countries and has growing tensions with Paris and Washington. The delimitation of the shared border is a complex issue, with both sides having different approaches to reaching an agreement. Another point of contention is the Zangezur Corridor, with Azerbaijan initially threatening to use military force to carve out this transport route but later conceding to build a road via Iran instead.

Human Rights Concerns

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has resulted in human rights violations by both sides. Human rights organizations have documented restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly, and association in Azerbaijan, as well as the imprisonment and harassment of political activists and human rights defenders. During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani military committed severe human rights violations against Armenian prisoners of war and civilians, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and arbitrary detention.

Armenia has also been accused of human rights abuses during the conflict, with Azerbaijani service members guarding an area that came under Azerbaijani control following the 2020 ceasefire deal. Both sides have been criticized for their use of attack drones, shelling, and special operations activities, which have led to intermittent clashes and violations of ceasefire agreements.

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