Azerbaijan: Victory hasn’t dimmed Aliyev’s ire for peace proponents

It has been just over a year since Azerbaijan regained full control of Nagorno-Karabakh. Yet the gratification of total victory has not dulled the malice that President Ilham Aliyev shows for his critics, especially peace activists.

Opponents of the war, along with proponents of reconciliation with Armenia, have become the government’s latest targets in a broad crackdown on independent voices that started last November. In August, researcher, activist and occasional Eurasianet contributor Bahruz Samadov was arrested by state security service and is being held in pre-trial detention on treason charges.

The criminal case against Samadov reportedly stems from freelance writings and interviews he has given in recent years that have been highly critical of Azerbaijan’s conduct of the Second Karabakh War. As he was being escorted to a judicial hearing on September 5, Samadov shouted, “Long live peace! Long live nations’ brotherhood!” He also denied the charges against him.

Since Samadov’s arrest, at least two other peace activists have been interrogated as witnesses in the treason case, and barred from leaving the country: blogger Samad Shikhi was detained on August 23 and released a day later, and researcher Javid Agha was apprehended on August 27.

A commentary broadcast in late August portrayed Samadov and others as members of a subversive network that “tirelessly exploits universal positive values ​​such as pacifism and tolerance, [and which] is unequivocally anti-Azerbaijani in national identity, national mentality and activities against sovereign development.” The commentary, without offering evidence, also alleged Samadov provided sensitive information about Azerbaijan to Armenian journalists.

On September 18, the Turan news agency reported that 18 international human rights groups sent a letter to the new secretary general of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, highlighting the lack of rule of law in Azerbaijan and calling for increased scrutiny of Baku’s practices. “There are almost no independent civil society entities left in the country. Leaders of independent media organizations have been arrested, and authorities have increased pressure on human rights defenders, as well as academics and researchers. Repression is more and more directed at young activists,” the letter read.

“The human rights crisis in Azerbaijan should be a high priority of your office,” the letter to Berset added. It urged the secretary general to raise concerns during his expected attendance of COP29, the annual UN climate conference, which will be hosted by Azerbaijan in November.

Aliyev’s administration, which has engaged in a long-running feud with the Council of Europe, is unlikely to be swayed by any criticism coming out of Strasbourg. Recently, it was revealed that European parliament members who voted against ratifying the Azerbaijani delegation’s credentials last year were listed as persona non grata in Azerbaijan. Aliyev said September 6 that the ban on their entry could be lifted only after they restore Azerbaijan’s participation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

In remarks made during a ceremony at KarabakhUniversity on September 20, Aliyev opened a window on his personal views about Azerbaijani citizens who opposed the war. For him, it seems that despite the eventual reconquest of Karabakh, the loss of the territory to Armenian forces during the First Karabakh War in the early 1990s still stings.

“They wanted us to accept defeat. They wanted our people to come to terms with that defeat,” he said.
“Certain people in our society sold themselves to foreign circles … mingled with Armenians, made deals, and organized joint meetings with them.”

“What contacts could we have with the bloodthirsty enemy who had committed the Khojaly genocide and razed all our cities and villages in the Karabakh region to the ground?” Aliyev continued, referring to the events during and immediately after the first war.

Regional observers see the muzzling of peace activists as part of a larger effort to ensure that dissidents don’t have a chance to dent Azerbaijan’s image by airing grievances during COP29. The government “does not want any public activity beyond its control,” RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani service quoted Altay Goyushov, head of the Baku Research Institute, as saying.