Hope

Tomorrow (27th October), Adnan and Emin are going to have another hearing. Its been almost two weeks since the last one and there is still hope that they will be released. At least I want to hope so! I want to see my friends free again. I want their parents to see their sons and be proud of them. I want all of us- his friends, be honored that we have friends as them. 

Emin and Adnan are facing a sentence but they are brave and are standing strong. I want all of us be like them. Strong and brave! And no matter what happens (as we all fear the worse) its going to be fine! Because things always get better and there is always some hope, and though very little it might be, it is there and we cannot lose it. 

***Emin Milli (30) and Adnan Hajizada (26) were arrested on July 8th in what has been staged incident and charged with hooliganism and are now facing up to 5 years of sentence. 

Life is strange- difference between writing about politics and emotions

Strange it is indeed... Usually, writing a post is simple, it is straight forward- there is a message I want to give, and I do it. But as I write this post I see that writing about politics is not the same as writing about feelings and emotions. 

Just moments go, I was out with my friends, having a good time and enjoying myself. Right now I feel shattered, lonely and broken- feelings that are so familiar to me and yet distant as I try to leave only good things in my memories and recycle all the bad. But it never works that way, it is never that simple. 

Life is not simple, relationships are not simple, friends are not simple, work is not simple, nothing is ever simple unless you really make it to be and in my mind the person who manages to make one's life so easy is a lucky person because this is not a quality everyone holds in possession. I see this ability as a gift, granted to some and kept from others. 

I have been betrayed and hurt many times in my life but somehow, I have managed to get back on my feet and move forward no matter how hard it has been and sometimes I get haunted by those memories- every once in a while I get stuck in the past, re-thinking over things and events, trying to understand what went wrong and that as I understand is not a wise thing to do. 

I don't know where I am going with this to be honest, but as I said in the begging of this post, it is so much easier to write about politics than it is about emotions. I guess, I should really stick to the former one...

Freedom has no boundaries

Yesterday (October 14th) friends across several cities around the world, celebrated one person's birthday. Emin Milli turned 30. And though right now, he is behind bars in some God forsaken detention facility in Azerbaijan, his friends and supporters all around, showed once again that freedom has no boundaries, nor does friendship.

London, Essex, Istanbul, Paris, Strasbourg, Baku, Moscow and New York were among those few cities where Emin's friends got together to raise their glasses to a one very bright young man. 

It was not so long ago (July 13th) when Adnan had his birthday. Also passed behind the bars but with a cake and food brought by his closest friends.

So, dear friends, I would like to raise a toast, to celebrate both Emin and Adnan's birthdays next year, once again together wherever we are, but this time united and stronger than ever! 

Making change happen- Blog Action Day!

As I write this post, I am only few hours away from Blog Action Day. I am going through a turbulence of emotions, hoping that my blog post as well as thousands of others are going to make a change in this world we live in. 

One may simply ask why? Why are you getting involved in something like thins? What is the point? Well, my answer will be simple- because I want to make a small contribution on my side to my future. I want to live in a safe and clean world, where my children will live as well. I want to leave something behind...

In Azerbaijan (where I am from) little is known about climate change and its impact on wider scale. Unfortunately, there aren't many policies dedicated to this issue. Many Azerbaijanis are unaware of recycling and its advantages, nor they are aware of using energy- saving light bulbs and etc. But I hope there will be in the future with more western educated young Azerbaijanis pushing for these kind of policies and changes in Azerbaijan. 

We must all be aware that given little policy initiative or no initiative at all, Azerbaijan just like many other countries will disappear from the surface of the earth (and yes, despite the fact that we have oil reserves and bla bla bla as our authorities like to say). 

But we must all take action- the government policies are not enough, every single person must take measures- start with simple things like separating papers, cans and glass disposal from main disposal. Yes, not everyone might be doing it, but you will (and I have started it myself) and that is a start. 

Lets make a change, unite on Blog Action Day 2009!

"Truth or dare"

"What game shall we play today?" asks one of the police chiefs to his staff when he comes to work. One of his staff jumps out and excitedly says "Truth or dare". The chief sits quietly in his seat, thinking... "It is truth or dare then" says he and orders his staff to go and take their posts of watchdogs for they are nothing more than animals, trained to do what they are told.

The game plan is simple: anyone who dares to speak of truth would be arrested and anyone who keeps quiet- gets a pad on the shoulder- simple, pathetic, repressive and sad.

Of course, this is an imaginary story but in some way or another it could probably fit with what happened today in Baku when youth (approx. 50) went on to the streets to protest increased metro prices (price increased 3x from 5 cents to 15 cents). A video on this blog shows exactly how this game is played. I am just curious, why would you arrest few guys who are against increased prices? They are not threatening to kill or lute or cut. They just wanted to get their voices heard. For that they were arrested, beaten, humiliated and taken to the court and now facing something from 15 days up to two years.

Oh well, I shouldn't be surprised. After all, why were my friends arrested on May 10 when we were peacefully walking towards the Oil Academy? Or why some of my friends were detained when the country was celebrating creation of first Azerbaijan Democratic Republic? Or why Emin and Adnan were arrested? For all the same reasons- keep quiet and you will be safe or raise your voice and you will be punished forever.

*** (Update)

Everyone arrested yesterday released on bail or with a warning. One of the guys awaits a court hearing.

Committee In Defense Of Youth Activists- PRESS RELEASE

Below is the press release by the Committee in Defense of Youth Activists released straight after the hearing on October 1 2009.

Baku, Azerbaijan, October 1, 2009

During Emin Abdullayev and Adnan Hajizada’s court hearing on October 1, 2009, their attorney presented photos that proved that the current investigation, testimonies of victims and witnesses for prosecution are untrue.

According to the statement comprised by the investigator of Sabail District Police Department Ziya Aliyev, police detained Emin Abdullayev and Adnan Hajizada in the restaurant "Lebanese" and delivered them to the Sabail District Police Station No.9 as suspects of hooliganism whereupon they were arrested.

Nevertheless, Emin Abdullayev and Adnan Hajizada affirm that they were severely beaten by two unfamiliar young persons with athlete's body (V. Mammadov and B. Huseynov) following which Emin Abdullayev and Adnan Hajizada went to the Sabail District Police Station No.39 in order to file a complain. There they were advised to approach Sabail District Police Station No.9. After that they made their way to the advised police station to file a complaint against the persons who attacked them in the restaurant.

During today's court session, E. Abdullayev and A. Hajizada’s attorneys submitted photos to the court which confirm that E. Abdullayev and A. Hajizada were at the Police Station No.39 after the fight in the restaurant (dated 08.07.2009) which justify that investigation statement and testimonies of witnesses for prosecution are not true.

Another pro- government propagandist…

Couple of weeks ago, I came across an article published by “Azerbaijan” newspaper (pro- government) titled “KIV’in Reklami ve Ehalinin Sosyal Durumu” (Ads on mass information resources and social condition of people). Basically the author of this article was saying that according to some (whom, he doesn’t mention exactly), one can understand the social- economic conditions of the country based on ads on TV, radio, newspapers and other information resources. “If, on the pages of newspapers, on TV, on radio there are ads on cheap products such as toothpaste, chewing gum, chocolate and others that means the population is poor. But if there are adds with expensive cars, apartments, furniture, tourism and holiday destinations, then that means that the country’s economy is strong and its people are well- off”. There is one thing I can say to this and that is “Ay senin bashiva dash dushsun, bedbext insan!” (which literally means I wish a stone falls down on your head, your poor person!”).

Of course, forget about the economic theory and the economists who have spent years on finding ways to calculate purchasing power parity and/or GDP. Who cares, because in Azerbaijan we have smart people like this guy who thinks commercials are just enough.

I don’t know where he lives but when he writes “just get out on the street you live on and look around you- your polyclinic, your hospital, schools, even your own house and you will see how far we have come” it makes want to see what place he is so patiently talks about ‘cuz it ‘ain’t Azerbaijan. I agree with him only on thing- that we have come far- in corruption, in backwardness, in bribery, in bad education, poor health care, undeveloped regions, I can go on. I don’t know where he lives but when I go on the street I live on I don’t see anything else by dirt and filth. When I go the polyclinic or a hospital all I get is wrong and expensive diagnosis. When I go to a school all I see is the low level of education but nice jewelry on teachers.

This is what I see, and this is real Azerbaijan not some fake, made- up story. 

Trip to Georgia

Last week, I was in Telavi/Georgia at a four- day retreat for an event called Model Caucasus Parliament (MCP). I was there as co- facilitator and gave a short presentation (case study) on the topic of putting online media tools to use when it comes to campaigning. For those who are familiar with Model UN, MCP was something similar, except with less countries- three to be precise and less people as well. 

The idea behind MCP is "to generate interest/knowledge in parliamentary democracy among young people in the region, as well as bringing up generation of capable and dedicated leaders who will shape peaceful and prosperous future for the South Caucasus".  

The theme of this particular event focused on campaign management (there was already one event held, there will be one more event following which there is going to be simulation with some of the best participants of all three of these events). There were several guest speakers who gave presentations on various aspects of campaign management. One of my personal highlights was the speaker who told the story of Obama campaign and how it was planned.  

There was another highlight of the trip, and that was a visit to a village- Karajala- 15 minutes outside of Telavi, populated by ethnic Azerbaijanis. 

A little bit about the village:

According to the locals the population of the village is around 8,000 people (Wikipedia says between 8 and 10,000). All are ethnic Azerbaijanis who have lived there for several generations. They speak in Azerbaijani but with a dialect- they all use Georgian as well, so it is more of a mix. 16- year- old son of the village head says there are maybe 3 or 4 Georgian families. 

The education given at the local school at first (1937) was in Turkish and Azeri but since 1996 it has been in Georgian.  The ex- school principal says the quality of education is weak though things have been changing with Saakashvilli. "Friendship among nations emerged" says the principal and so gradually things got better. 

In general people are happy with the life style in the village. Some of the women even said that it is better than in other surrounding villages. “Economically condition is fine. Telavi has 24 villages, and we are the ones who pay highest taxes because people who live here do trade and have better and more income than others. But it is the infrastructure- roads- that are bad”, says the principal of the school.  He also added that they don’t have constant water, which explains water “pit- stops” on the sides of the road.

“The local municipality is useless. The man who is in charge is a baker from Baku and he doesn’t even know how to write an official letter”, says the principal.

Impressions: 

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much. I thought at best, there would be some nice shots and maybe few interviews. Well, it was more than that. 30 minutes into the visit, a woman, whom we (me and journalist Onnik Krikorian) tried to interview told of a wedding that is taking place just five minutes from where we were standing. 

The front yard of the house was crowded with people- neighbors, relatives who came to help. This was just the preparation; the wedding was to take place later in the evening and that was the only the girl’s wedding (according to Azerbaijani traditions there are two weddings- girl and boy, the boy’s wedding is the actual wedding). It all looked like well- planned team work- men were setting up the tables, while women were busy preparing food and washing the dishes. 300 guests were expected to come. 

Several hours into chatting with locals, we got invited to the wedding itself, which was the ultimate experience. There is a slide show presentation that can be watched at:http://frontlineclub.com/blogs/onnikkrikorian/2009/09/an-unexpected-visit-to-an-azeri-village-wedding.html

Looking back at that day, I catch myself smiling, remembering all the tiny details of those few hours spent at the village and of course, MCP- great initiative and an opportunity to meet great people...