Couple of days ago, I heard a story of a mother and her son, who is currently doing his military service. She was at work when she received a phone call. It was her son, he was crying. He said that he either commits a suicide or will kill his commander. Imagine the state of a mother who hears these words and needs to deal with it.
He was saying that he was forced to dig in the rain since early morning hours. What are they digging, he doesn't know, why, he also doesn't know. They were fed early morning and since then were outside working in the rain, soaked wet with no explanations. It was 4pm when he called.
He also told her that all the food his parents send him is taken away by the higher ranked soldiers. He can't get anything. They humiliate him as well as the rest of the soldiers. And it was for these reasons that he decided to commit suicide.
This is not the first story I hear of Azerbaijani military. While the government spends ridiculous amount of money, I wonder where that money really goes (apart from spending it on weapons) if the soldiers who are supposed to protect this country are treated this way and harassed (who is going to use these weapons anyway if this is the real situation at the compounds?). Why can't they be treated normally, fed and looked after normally. It is because of such conditions, Azerbaijani men don't want to do their military service.
I have added a video below from some military compound. It shows meat or what is supposed to be meat with onion skin- the man asks questions in the video as to what that is because it doesn't look like meat especially when he points to onion skin thrown into the pot:
9 comments:
http://anspress.com/index.php?a=2&lng=az&nid=6825
"azeri army is the strongest in the region"...(c)president
when i hear him say such things and see the crowd frenziedly applaud i really get confused and i cant help but wonder maybe it is ppl like u and me who r too "blind" and "unsatisfied" with all the "luxury" our country has to offer.
True, there are such facts in the army, not only in Azeri army but in every single army that exists in the world. From well disciplined Chinese to well equiped American. Yes, it is not fair and out of the reach of humanism.
However, such facts are in minority. For the following reasons. 1st. Army is a community where there is control, in one way or another, otherwise it would be a choas in the army. 2nd, but the most important factor is a person himself. there is a saying in the army " evvelini nece bashladin, axirin da ele olacaq". About that guy, i have personally seen such people and i am not sorry for them, because it those who are "baby boy"s. Because you've just seen or heard the one side of the story. I wonder what he has done to be punished. Those like him, usually get punished for; stealing-f***** USED SOCKS, yes there are even such SOLDIERS; lying; anyway.....this is a long topic....
P.S. About men not wanting to go to the army, i was in the army, my brother is in the army, two of my cousins are in the army....none have complaints.....thanks god.
BY THE WAY, I am not DEFENDING the army, i personally hate it at least cuz it took away a year of my life for hm.....nothing...
Dear Anonymous,
I also have few things to say to you regarding your comment. It is because of people who think like you there are problems in our society, people with your type of thinking are the cause of all the stereotyping in this country. Because of your "macho" like approach and way of thinking that "he must be baby boy", we have domestic violence, violence in the military service and general negative attitude.
Judging from what you have said, you are no different from those generals or commanders who treat their staff that way. The typical azeri, traditional, conservative attitude that "you must have done something utterly bad, otherwise you wouldn't be beaten or threatened or harassed" evimizi yixir.
I am deeply troubled by this comment and with your attitude as well. Just because similar things might be happening in countries you've listed here, doesn't mean that the same should be happening in Azerbaijan as well.
@ 1st Anynymous, you are partially right. However, if to read @AG's comment, she is right about you. Cuz if to judge your point of view, u've been through ur lenses...u went though the same, and later on u became a "cool" guy, nece deyerler kecmishini unudanlar.
@AG, with all respect, it is the ARMY and u want or not commanders and or generals, or sergeants HAVE to be that strict. I've been to the army too, and i've been a sergeant, and I've seen that as long as you treat the soldiers normally, insan kimi yeni, they take it for granted....unlike those who treat them strict......so it has nothing to do with the army, just as i've said before, our society does not "deserve" other treatment or at least is not ready for democracy...if u unleash them....they would "kill" you.
@AG if to look from your point of view, we have to dismiss all the armies in the world, because as anonymous pointed out, such facts exist in every army and for centuries....and not that top officials dont want to change it, it is just army is a closed "society" with its rulz...and that's the way it is "controlled"....so let's just throw away all the armies. :)
- "you must have done something utterly bad, otherwise you wouldn't be beaten or threatened or harassed" @AG, unfortunately that's true for our army.....2 variant var, ya gerek hemin o zabitler ve ya "yuksek" esgerler bespredel olsunlar...hansi ki, onun axiri yoxdu...ona gore de ele hadiseler var, amma cox azdi...ya da ki, insanin ozu gunahkar olur esgerlikde nedenese. Inanirsan ki sen bele milletin terefini saxlayirsan, amma esgerlikde olan insanlar....Allah hec ele dushmen gostermesin hec kese.
Regards,
M.A.
@limerent, the president is right, we've got the strongest army in the region. and it is a truth, he's got nothing to lie about this fact.!!! with all the negative facts in the army, it is still strong compared to...
The bottom line here is REGION itself....now imagine the region, all 3 countries..yes, 3 countries only, cuz Iran, Turkey,Russia well if even to take them within the region....armies are not comparable
Now, compare the economies, regardles off all the negatives facts again, and compare armies....in the REGION, if to compare it with hm, let's say....never mind. :)
Regards,
M.A
guys, i understand that the army is strict, and i know that and i don't dismiss this fact. but there is always limit to being strict or from what you are telling me, army is a completely different world, and general rules don't work here. i get it, and i am not saying that we shouldn't have armies or what now. the reason why i wrote this post was to tell a story of a mother and her son. the mother is a really nice woman (i know her personally), her son I don't know personally that well, but he never was a mama's boy from what i can remember.
And in general, there are few things i don't get with negative comments such as of that Anonymous wrote. If he doesn't like my post or my blog then why does he read it? Second, if he doesn't agree with me, he is more than welcome to post his comment, let him not forget, that I am moderating all the comments, and i could have deleted it and not publish at all. However, as with all comments, I never do so, because i want to share opinions of others with everyone who reads this blog.
I honestly thought his comment was too macho- very typical to that of Azeri men thinking. When i was working with victims of domestic violence, this thinking persisted in many cases- if a woman was beaten at home and then went to the police, she was harassed at the police station and told that she must have done something wrong to deserve this. And this thinking persisted in the community as well, including women. Because if a husband was beating his wife and then the two sides shared this among their female and male friends, male friends applauded the guy, saying he is the man, and female friends said, oh, you must have done something, otherwise he wouldn't have beat you, he loves you.
I don't know if you are getting my point. Again, i am not dismissing the fact that army should be strict, it is an army after all, but who said in order to be strict you need to sexually and mentally harass the other side?! If you think this should be part of the process then i don't know, something must be wrong because harassing doesn't create strictness, it only creates fear, which then creates deep psychological cuts and might eventually result in that person either committing a suicide, murdering someone else, or simply going mad.
Of course, this could also be the extreme. but i am talking out of my experience and all the male friends or friends of friends and relatives who went to do their military service. and i was also told that there are soldiers who steal socks and clothes and then sell them to that very person they stole it from . and i think this has nothing to do with strictness. in fact, if the army was so strict, then this wouldn't happen. or why take away stuff thats send to the soldiers? whats the point? is that also part of being strict?
anyway, i am sure two of you had an excellent military service, and i congratulate you on your safe returns, but perhaps not everyone is mentally strong as you and you can always never know whats underneath that strong image of a person either.
@AG, you are right, but no one is wrong. At least because, in order to understand what is REALLY going on in the army, one has to go there.....there is no other way. Yes, from outside it seems completely different and unfair, which is unfair, but still...
About committing suicide, maybe you know official statistics of suicides in Azerbaijan? If there is one. I've counted 6 people for the last 3 weeks (according to day.az) and funny thing is they all were "suffering from mental diseases".
It reminds me of the movie Das Leben der Anderen, Lives of others....recommended to watch. :)
P.S. Senin Blogun en ustun ceheti mehz "senzura"nin olmamasidir. :)
Regards,
M.A.
yes, i have seen that movie, good one!
and thanks for the comment, i appreciate my blog being appreciated for not being censored :)
Well what i think about this issue is that first of all if a baby boy gets to the army, army should train him to become a man and not bring him to a condition of suicide or killing someone.
The second issue that i would like to underline is that i don't think that army eating something like what we saw in the video can be strong physically. I really hope this is not what a soldier eats on the daily bases. I think it is pretty evident that the money that is considered to be spent on food along with other budget is misused.
I really don't know what is going on in Azeri army, but i feel myself pretty confident to make this kind of statements on this topic.
And i think those who has been to the army and has experienced all these, should not be saying "this is it, this is army, everyone should go experience that!" but they should do something to improve it and if not, at least bravely admit the true condition and attitude to soldiers because tomorrow their kids will be there, and in case they are not mentally as strong as their dads occurred to be, then they'll regret they ever let their kid go there if they'll ever let at all.
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