100,000 manat for a man's life

His name was Zaur Hasanov. He was a war veteran who provided for his family managing a cafe in Baku. On December 25th, Hasanov set himself ablaze in front of the Confederation of Trade Unions. He committed this act because his cafe was appropriated by a government crony- Sattar Mehbaliyev, chairman of the trade union. The cafe was taken away, demolished, and the veteran was refused any compensation for his property. 

Hasanov died today (his body suffered 3rd degree burns and was in a critical condition with 65% of his body severely damaged by the fire) at a local hospital leaving behind a devastated family of five. 

It was only after a public outcry that the government finally reacted to the case with Mehbaliyev himself promising to pay a lump sum of AZN100,000 to Hasanov's family in addition to a monthly compensation of 1,500manats. 

Mehbaliyev claims to have all the paperwork approved by the court (hmm... which courts? Azerbaijani courts? It must have been so hard for Mehbaliyev to get this "legal" paperwork in order!). 

Well Mr. Mehbaliyev, if you wouldn't have evicted the man in the first place and taken away his business from him, and showed at least a tat bit of respect to a war veteran, none of this would have happened.

Internet Governance Forum meets again [updated]

It is that time of the year, when the annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF) meets again. This year, the event is hosted by Indonesian government and we are in Bali. I won't lie, concentrating in a beautiful place like this, surrounded by stunning beach hasn't been easy (especially when you are the only person dressed in business causal outfit while the rest of the guests walk around in their bikinis and other summer attire).  

This year's general theme is Enhancing Multistakeholder Cooperation for Growth and Sustainable Development. As it has been in the past years, the guests of the conference represent a diverse group- government representatives, civil society institutions, media, academia, human rights defenders, freedom of press advocates, activists, journalists, and bloggers.

I have only been to two IGFs but its enough to compare. Whether it was the internet, the venue or any other logistical matter, IGF2013 was by far, better organized than IGF2012 in Baku. There were shuttle buses waiting for guests at the airport not to mention a registration table set up at the arrival terminal. Of course, visas were issued upon arrival with no difficulties (this is not to say that there weren't visa issues- many participants, especially those traveling from Africa had difficulties to either obtain visa, or missed the forum, because they were managed to get it on time). 

The registration on the first day of the forum was also very quick. Perhaps it was because our delegation arrived early but still it did seem all throughout the day, that the registration line moved more or less quick.

Last year I attended IGF as an independent, this year however,  I am here as part of a kick ass Freedom House delegation and its been a privilege to be here with them (in fact, check out the Freedom on the Net reports published by the Freedom House this year).

Some highlights

Registration: The registration process was very efficient as I mentioned earlier.  One strange encounter was when I received my badge, it had my picture from last year IGF. I don't remember signing any papers letting IGF Secretariat keep my photo. As it turned out later during the day I wasn't the only one. Few more people who attended IGF last year in Azerbaijan were issued badges with photos from last year (as I discovered later, it wasn't only the photos from last year but also USB sticks too). 

Another bizarre experience was meeting Miss Internet Bali 2013- indeed, you didn't misread that. There was Miss Internet, who was the pageant winner (if you are fluent in Indonesian you can learn more about it here). According to an article in Jakarta post I found online the winner is the 19 year old Dewa Ayu Windu Sari Devi. She is a student at the Udayana University's School of Economics. Her extensive knowledge on Internet usage and services in Indonesia got her the prize. Devi is going to be the symbol of using the Internet "smartly and wisely" reported Jakarta post.

Wifi: the internet connection which was terrible last year (not to mention completely inaccessible during some of the sessions which focused on the human rights or freedom of expression issues in particular) was working just fine here (some participants had some difficulties connecting); each meeting room had a giant stand set up with a list of names of each sessions scheduled to take place in these rooms. The leaflet distributed upon registration with the IGF program provided the map of the venue with room names and numbers. 

I think the main reason why it was different this year was because for Azerbaijani government it wasn't so much about the quality of organizing but about simply having an event like this in order to add it to its list of "trophies" (there is an Azerbaijan booth here proudly distributing a report from last year's IGF, but proudly failing to mention anything about the human rights discussions or press freedom related criticism raised during the meetings). As an alternative you can read this report titled "False Freedom" that just came out. 

Issues discussed: Throughout the week some very interesting and important discussions were made-highlighting safety of bloggers, protecting rights of online activists, the role of governments in ensuring safety of users and free access of information and more (for the list of workshops and sessions see here). Surely there were sessions when internet policies of repressive governments was questioned and the lack of accountability measures- of holding governments responsible- highlighted. But whether there is going to be a solution to this any time soon is yet to be seen.

Wrapping up this one week long event, I am looking back and thinking of ways of taking back with me the knowledge (especially on online security) and contacts and hoping that meetings like IGF have more impact on certain governments and issues. But also get their control mechanism in order- because it is no doubt interesting that IGF is hosted in countries where human rights and freedom of the press records are not necessarily at their best. 

People of power in Azerbaijan: who is who and how long these men been here?

This is a comprehensive list of government officials- ministers and heads of various state institutions and how long these majority men (yes, you shouldn't be surprised, there are only two women on that list- thank you by the way to the comment posted by anonymous, it must be an automatic mistake I suppose) been sitting in these seats- some almost for two decades.

Enjoy! And I will share the translation soon.

Source: http://www.azadliq.org/content/article/24941119.html;
http://www.azadliq.org/content/popup/24943340.html

Shame on ... us!

The day when residents of Baku gathered at the Fountain Square to raise their concerns over killings of conscripts during their military service in Azerbaijan, the country's social media presence was alive as ever. In her analysis of #protestbaku Katy Pearce, pointed out to some interesting facts, but what caught my attention was her evaluation of what she referred to as "Group 4"- the pro- government youth groups, and one very popular young gentleman led by Rauf Mardiyev, who is notorious for his outlandish statements and tweets when it comes to anyone who is, well, lets just say not like him and his support network. The day when everyone was using #protestbaku, he initiated another hashtag #Khadijautan ("shame on Khadija"). Now the readers of this blog, already might be familiar with the name Khadija Ismayil. She is a well known and well respected journalists from Baku, woman of courage and strength. It would not be an exaggeration to add a woman of inspiration. 

#Khadijautan was aimed solely at Khadija, accusing her for accusing dead conscript's mother in bargaining. She explained herself in the following Facebook status update: 

I wrote "there is a need for mothers in this country who don't bargain over their son's dead bodies"[...].

As Rauf and others were busy throwing dirt at Khadija, none of them, bothered to say anything about the wicked military service of our country. Is it because they consider it impeccable? So who should carry this shame? Certainly not Khadija and thousands of Baku residents, were right there, on the streets, demanding an end to deaths of Azerbaijani soldiers, resignation and final resolution to this situation. This wasn't the first time that a conscript lost his live. 

So whose shame is it at the end? Surely its our shame to share if we are talking about shame in general. It is ours to share because it is our country, our soldiers and our government's ill treatment of its citizens, young boys who are sent to complete their military services but who are mistreated. It is our shame for not taking action earlier. Its easy to shame someone, but shouldn't we start from shaming ourselves? Doesn't everything begin from our individual selves? It is shame indeed. But it our shame to share and deal with so all those biased critiques please grow up and take some responsibility ...

"Spotlight on Azerbaijan"

This a recent report (May 12, 2012) published by the Foreign Policy Center on Azerbaijan, the country's pressing human rights record, corruption, rule of law, freedom of expression and more. 

 

Spotlight on Azerbaijan

Baku- a year later, changes are there but what about conscience?

My heart was racing. I was standing at the passport control at Haydar Aliyev International Airport. I was nervous. After being called a traitor, an agent and many other negative things by our beloved media, it was my first time home since my last visit to Baku in December of last year. I was nervous and millions of unpleasant thoughts for pacing through my mind. 

Few minutes down the waiting line, a woman in crispy uniform with a pretty smile said "Welcome home!" and stamped my passport. I was smiling too. Now when I think of that moment, I can feel the heavy weight lifting off my shoulders. 

I was excited to be back. 

But Baku didn't change. Apart from new constructions, a bit of usual glitz here and there everything was the same. The sad and stern looks on people's faces were everywhere- on the streets, on public transportation. The daily concerns did not disappear as quickly and as easy as some parts of old Baku destroyed for new construction projects and other mind blowing changes planned for the new Baku.

And though this may sound too dramatic, it felt like I was back in a country that had no future. Yes, and you might not agree with it. You don't have to agree with it. But, we, the citizens of Azerbaijan have no future because our future is being taken away from us. The life, the standards, the country we could possibly have one day, remains a distant dream, hidden inside of people like Bakthiyar Hajiyev who is still serving his unjustly given sentence in prison. 

I thought of the people sitting behind their desks up there watching their Baku and ours, taken apart piece by piece, people forced to misery- all aware of where we have come. Surely, these officials are also aware that no matter how many new buildings they construct, or facades build, they will never cover the reality- poor health care, deteriorating education, non- existent social care and most importantly human relations (you might say how is that relevant, but it is. If you suffocate people so much, no one is going to care about others, its all going to become one big survival of the fittest struggle, if not it has already become so). 

New Baku looks nice, but who is it for? You can "renovate" as many schools as you want, as many hospitals as you want, but if those who work there hold on to their old habits, all of this "beautification" is pointless. If young men on the metro don't know how to behave, if people litter the streets, if no one respects a line in front of an ATM machine- then none of them are going to understand the new Baku. They simply don't care! And why would they- if they struggle with their daily lives, if they need to take care of sick parents, if they need to pay a bribe at their local school or university...

Its just sad. Seeing how much is wasted, the potential human resources, and most importantly the potential future we might have. Its recklessly going away as if we are eternal, as if what have is infinite. We all are going to leave this world one day, but its the next generations who are going to stay behind and struggle with what we are leaving behind. 

Albert Camus once said "by definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more". Today Azerbaijani government has a policy- arrest, silence, forget, bribe, renew, rebuilt and don't look back. The question is, what policy will it have tomorrow?