Short update on Azerbaijan (written for a separate publication, reposting here)

On September 26, 2016 Azerbaijan confirmed the adoption of 29 constitutional amendments, strengthening the power vested in the hands of the ruling regime. Similar to previous elections, September Referendum took place not without election fraud and violations. Videos, interviews, and independent reporting documenting these violations was swept under the carpet as per business as usual. As a result next presidential elections in Azerbaijan will take place in 2020 rather than in 2018 as the presidential term limit were extended from 5 to 7 years. Among other changes are right granted to the incumbent president to call for early elections; dissolve the parliament; and appoint a first vice president who would replace the current president as his constitutional successor. In addition, minimum age for running in parliamentary and presidential elections was reduced to 18 years of age and so on. In a statement issued by the Venice Commission "proposed amendments would severely upset the balance of power by giving unprecedented powers to the president". 

Ali Hasanov, presidential aide described the changes as necessary in order for the government to work more efficiently. For those familiar with this small nation on the shores of the Caspian and rich in energy resources, official Baku already had all the powers it needed to run a country already constrained by corruption, appalling press freedom and human rights record. On January 24, court sentenced independent journalist Rovshan Mammadov to 30 days of administrative detention. Earlier, court sentenced member of youth organization N!DA to a similar charge while fining popular citizen journalist and blogger Mehman Huseynov for allegedly resisting police. Court in Baku in addition sentenced to other members of N!DA movement to ten years in jail on bogus drug possession charges while many critics of the regime saw this sentence as a grave punishment for the two men drawing graffiti on the statue of the late presindent on Flower day, which is know to celebrate late President, Heydar Aliyev's birthday. In addition to the case of Rovshan Mammadov and Mehman Huseynov, at least five other journalists have been arrested or detained by the authorities in recent months including Afgan Sadygov; Zamin Haji, Ikram Rahimov, Fikret Faramazoglu, and Teymur Kerimov according to monitoring by press freedom watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists. 

In the meantime the country witnessed second devaluation and price hikes, which according to the country's independent economists are direct result of mismanagement of the country's economy including wrong economic policies of diversification, presence of monopolies, and rampant corruption. Just weeks ahead of the September Referendum, Bloomberg reported about a halt in foreign currency sales as local currency manat continued to depreciate while demand by businesses and households soared. 

Overall, given the circumstances, there is little space for positive projection for 2017 as restrained conditions remain across the country and regime in Baku continues to push for its personal gains over country wide and much needed and long time overdue reforms.

How Azerbaijan's "media" likes to lie about things

Well it should come as no surprise when I came across this story on AzVision.az about Turkey's Anadolu Agency hailing elections in Azerbaijan.

Of course I went back on Anadolu Agency website (the AzVision "failed" to provide any links to the original story) and looked at news.

And surprise surprise, there was no such article but one news story on the elections.

You can see the screen shots below:

 

For those who do not speak Turkish briefly the article mentions the elections in Azerbaijan, the number of candidates, voters and so on. 

And of course you can always rely on google translate. 

Well, surprising, I say no. Typical!

Azerbaijan's long tradition of carousel voting- we know it very well!

When you are from Azerbaijan and have seen a few elections in your life time, you know very well all the various kinds of violations and fraud that take place on the day of the elections. One of these frauds is carousel voting. While the name might remind you of your childhood memories, the act itself is something in some countries people might get arrested for, because it is at the end of the day, a version of fraud. 

So let me tell you briefly how it happens in case you don't know- a group of men and women get dressed and with their ID cards head to the polling station on the day of the election. They walk in, sign up, and fulfill their duty as a citizen. 

But that day, their duty isn't just voting. Their duty is to vote as many times as possible before they get caught (or unless they get caught). But even then, there is no guarantee that the very same people wont' show up at another precinct all set up for yet another "fraud vote". 

I consider myself lucky, because I have actually seen the "heroes" of this act myself. 

Two years ago, I was an independent observer during the Presidential election in Azerbaijan. I was at my precinct observing two polling stations. There were four other independent observers. I was the only one with a camera which startled the head of the polling station at first. He frantically demanded that I show him my press card which I didn't have to have as an officially registered observer. After nagging and questions which seemed to last a lifetime, I finally pulled out my media accreditation as well. Which shut him up, luckily but only briefly. Each time I took my camera out, he jumped up and down (certainly not of the excitement) and tried his best to divert my attention. Long story short, I received several terrible comments from a few teachers employed by the school calling me all sorts of names because I was "obstructing" their job which consisted of rigging votes. And they had no shame, they were doing it in front of my very own eyes, in public. 

But back to carousel voting and what I saw that day. 

So earlier I saw a woman who came wearing big sun glasses that covered most of her face. She had long hair in a ponytail. She was also dressed nicely. She came alone. I took a picture of her, thinking about why people in Azerbaijan like to wear sunglasses in closed spaces. 

Few hours later, as I stood in my spot watching people come in and register I saw the same woman, this time, with no make up and she of course ditched the sun glasses. This time she was with a kid. 

When I asked the jittery head of the polling station about her, he literally told me not to worry and that she wasn't voting again (even though as he was talking to me she took the ballot and went into the booth) and that she was simply "responsible for making sure people in her neighborhood all cast their votes that day". 

I didn't say much. I smiled. Stepped aside and watched the rest of the circus in silence. It was then when I realized there was no point. No matter how many international or independent observers were there that day, no matter how many questions I asked and comments I made, it was all decided a long time ago and there was nothing I could do. 

So I was not surprised at all, when I saw this video shared my Meydan TV with the head of the Lankaran District Executive Office giving orders to the "electorate" as to whom and how they should vote on November 1.

This is how Aliyev rolls folks. Oh and if you still think there will be different results, just make sure you are not betting that day, YAP will win with a bunch of fake "opposition" and "independent" candidates.

How AKP runs the country

If you have been following news on Turkey you all know the back story. The protests of the last summer shook the country, its leadership and brought out many grievances accumulated over the past decade of the ruling Justice and Development Party. The graft scandal in December further showed the other face of the party, the one deeply involved in shady business deals and corruption. Then came the controversial bills on judiciary power and the Internet followed by the release of phone conversations between the Prime Minister and few other individuals including his son, and finally the death of a young boy, Berkin Elvan that sparked more country wide protests.

But I bet here is something that you didn't know or not yet at least. This ad appeared on TV channels just a few hours ago. The ad is promoting Turkish flag, the national anthem, religion and the evil forces trying to eliminate all of that (starring an evil guy dressed in black whose face we never see, which kind of plays with the whole "third powers" argument of the Prime Minister). And so the people start running, determined to stop the evil from ruining their future. 

If they would have added the riot police preventing these people from running and threw in few water cannon vehicles the picture would have been complete. Maybe next video ad- this time promoting the skills of accurate aiming of the Turkish riot police would do total justice. 

What you also didn't know most likely is that the ad was banned from TV shortly after it was aird but strangely few people spotted the ad on some of the channels. Today, as the Turkish Parliament was debating the graft scandal, all of a sudden most of the state TV channels stopped broadcasting the debate. It was thanks to the CHP MP Melda Onur and her i-pad and her quick thinking that it was possible to watch the debate on livestream.

How convenient or shall I say ironic that when the banned TV ad is still aired on state TV channels, the debate on something far more important isn't.

Broadening horizons: Azerbaijan goes from silencing local NGOs to sponsoring international ones

Ah, Azerbaijan! The country of so many contrasts and surprises! Today, I learned that our "independent" Council on State Support to NGOs announced an open call for applications to international non governmental institutions especially from Europe and US. The applicants are encouraged to apply (boy, I am about to choke) with projects that focus on the following topics:

- protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms;

- combating against xenophobia, racism, and islamophobia;

- fostering peace and security and alleviation of negative consequences of regional conflicts

to name the few. 

How ironic isn't it?! While the country's own human rights record is deteriorating and freedoms are violated on daily basis, its open to support projects on these issues elsewhere. Instead of dealing with its own religious issues, it prefers to "sponsor" equality and respect elsewhere... 

And this is just in time after a new defamation provision. 

All is left for us to do is get some pop corn and watch where all this goes. Just beware that the Azerbaijani government might come after you, you never know how they interpret things- everything is conditional...

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

ICT progress in Azerbaijan

It was Vinton Cerf's comment in this article about the decision makers of ICT sector that prompted me to write this post. While writing on the importance of the Internet, Cerf put great emphasis on the closed- door meeting of the International Telecommunication Union that gathered in Dubai earlier this month and which according to Google's Chief Internet Evangelist is an ideal venue for repressive regimes, place more aggressive limitations on the open Internet. He believes these gatherings only limit the use of the Internet further:

"[...] this inter- governmental agency is the wrong place to make decisions about the future of the Internet. Only governments have vote at the ITU. This includes governments that do not support a free and open Internet. Engineers, companies, and people that build and use the web have no vote".

Back to the case of Azerbaijan, and focusing especially on the last part of what Vinton Cerf said about the ITU and decision making, I wonder of the IT developments Azerbaijani government claims to have achieved. According to Ali M. Abbasov, Minister of Communications and Information Technologies the main purpose of public policy in the field of ICT is:

"to provide transition to the information society, create and develop an information and knowledge- based, competitive economy and arrange participation of citizens and social institutions in the management process [...]"

I wonder how much of this policy and IT related developments involve the engineers, companies, and the people that build and use the web and information technologies in decision- making and development process? According to Mr. Abbasov, "naturally great public support, properly defined long- term strategy, and well grounded public policy play an important role in the achievement of these developments" but whether there is an actual call for public support on behalf of the government I doubt.

Azerbaijani government no doubt, sent a large delegation to the ITU event in Dubai, but if we look at the agendas of some of the authoritarian states attending the event ranging from banning anonymity from the web to making it easier to find and arrest the dissidents and etc. the real intentions of Azerbaijani government slightly blur. After all, it is a country where Internet is largely free, and the government is notorious for its crack down on political dissidents even online (given Internet is considered as part of mass media, recently the authorities been thinking of passing a law that would impose restrictions on websites with "obscene" and "anti-national" content). But I wont get into details of Azerbaijan's ICT sector. For more information on this you can read Open Net Initiative's country report. 

I will just like to get back to the original point/question- how involved are the people outside of the government in decision making of information and technologies that affect everybody?

Time for summer clean- up after Eurovision

This is my most recent article on post- Eurovision Azerbaijan and the crackdowns that continue in a country where change (a very optimistic word in this case) is very slow and authorities care little about anything but themselves. 

You can read the original article in English here and in Italian here.

Time for Summer Clean Up After Eurovision in Azerbaijan

Interview with Ilham Aliyev with Frost over the world

I came across this video thanks to 'Aaron in Azerbaijan' blog post as I was doing research on a topic that might sound all too familiar for some of you- Azerbaijan's so- called lobby activities abroad for pampering its image and its influence. 

The president of Azerbaijan, easily brushes of questions raised on Azerbaijan's poor human rights record and its freedom of expression track. The ease in his words as he scrutinizes criticisms raised by international organizations leaves the viewers and those who follow news closely stunned if not astonished.    "In most cases we ignore them" says the President when responding to the question on how Azerbaijan deals with some of the criticisms from abroad on its human rights situation and what not. 

Be the judge yourself though, and draw your own conclusions from this video. 

Carpeted and sumptuous facades of Azerbaijan

As we all just barely recover from the New Year celebrations, never- ending food and goodies left from the festive night, others been working hard. And I am ever grateful for this hard work given the tremendous (or perhaps not so much, depending how you look at it and who looks at it) influence this work might have on certain individuals who prefer lavish life styles and extra cash to things like a drop of honesty perhaps.

Before I confuse you even more, here is what I am talking about. Spiegel, released an article (though I would like to call it more of a tribute) about/to Azerbaijan which might please critics of the government and not so much those who are lobbying to "burnish" the country's image in Europe. Apparently the busy bees been occupied contracting shady pr agencies and throwing extravagant parties disguised under "cultural events" (apparently having carpets involved makes the purpose of such gatherings cultural- sigh, if only carpets knew how they are being used these days...) to improve the country's image in preparations to the upcoming Eurovision song contest. 

Perhaps the busy bees are blinded my their bank accounts (reminding me of Donald Duck and his "$"- sign- popping- eyes) and their little tiny brains that were at some point in time and space replaced by "money money money, always sunny" phrases (which by no means implies that I don't have respect for ABBA anymore) and propaganda- talking machines. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how many ex- European government officials you "buy", "convert" or whatever this shady business style is called these days- oh, I remembered now, it has a fancy word for it- Lobbying!- one can only hide behind carpeted and sumptuous facades this much. Sadly, it also reveals how much money can buy and what it can eventually do to you (see for instance Qaddafi and his "sad" departure from this world). 

Anyway, the point is, you should read the article, draw your own conclusion, decide what to believe in and finally visit Azerbaijan this May. We live in a funny world, you just have to be careful who you trust, how you trust and whats behind that. After all Ronald Reagan did say once "trust, but verify"...

Jabbar Savalan's sentence stays intact (updated)

Today, the judge at the Supreme Court, rejected the appeal of Savalan, young activist and a member of the youth branch of an opposition party the Popular Front of Azerbaijan. The judge, Imran Hajiyev made this decision despite Savalan's absence (allegedly he was informed of the trial however was still absent at the trial) and pleads of Savalan's lawyer to drop initially assigned charges of 2.5 years for illegal possession of drugs. And though, Savalan's lawyer made every single violation of the hearing and the overall investigation process clear, the judge, declared the verdict. 

To read more about the story click here [ENG] and here [AZ].
***
Updated: Check out Amnesty International statement on the court as well here.

Amnesty International's Campaign for Jabbar Savalanli

A new campaign was launched by the Amnesty International, calling for release of a student from Azerbaijan, Jabbar Savalanli, who was imprisoned and sentenced on bogus charges- the usual suspect, i.e., drug possession. 

You can "dislike" the charge and join the petition by simply signing pushing the "dislike" button on their campaign page (see below).

Jabbar, was imprisoned shortly after posting a status update on his Facebook- calling for mass protests against Azerbaijani incumbent regime. He was detained, forced to sign confession and then imprisoned. 

Please join the cause!

"Free them NOW!"

The video campaign/petition below, was prepared in support of prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan [AZ]. I too call on the immediate freedom of Elnur Majidli, Ruslan Bashirli, Zulfugar Eyvazov, Jabbar Savalan, Sahib Karimov, Arif Hacili, Tural Abbasli, Elnur Israfilov, Ahad Mammadli, Ulvi Quliyev, Vidadi Iskenderov, and Mehemmed Mejidli!

"Azerbaijan [not] working to strengthen civil society"

I am appalled. According to this article "Azerbaijan working to strengthen civil society" published in some local US paper, Azerbaijan "is a gradually evolving democracy with freedom of speech in which opposition parties are playing an increasingly outspoken and prominent role in civil society". Its a country where opposition newspapers "publish freely" and where "social and economic development was proceeding, along with religious tolerance [...]".

The article sums the results of a meeting organized by the Joint Working Group for the Implementation of International Human Rights Standards. They are based in Baku, Azerbaijan. This Joint Working Group, has all sorts of members- judges, economists, human rights experts and more. I am just curious which human rights expert in the right state of his/her mind could conclude that Azerbaijan is improving steadily its human rights record. Nor I can imagine an economist who could say there is fair distribution of economic revenues or that there is any other steadily developing economic sector other than oil and gas.

I would also very much like to ask Judge Jean- Paul Moerman, a member of Belgium's Constitutional Court who was at the meeting, where is he seeing the evolving commitment to freedom of expression in Azerbaijan? Release of Eynulla Fatullayev (whom he calls "opposition- leaning militant journalist") was a fight worth years. I wonder what Mr. Moerman have to say about other imprisoned journalists or activists or political party members. Perhaps in his mind this too is only a sign of a democratic state? 

How is it possible that someone living in Azerbaijan, seeing the bitter reality can actually say or write something like this?! If you are so certain of this transparent, democratic and honest reality then why not get this article published in a bigger newspaper? Why not Guardian or NYTimes or WashingtonTimes? 

Perhaps Mr. Shahin Camalov, the Co-Chair of the Joint Working Group and the rest of his colleagues are in a state of trans, pretending to pretend for the sake of pretending and not caring. Whatever it is that prompted this institution to write something like this shows how superficial, simple and unaware they are. They simply choose to say something for the sake of saying, hoping at best to get a pat on a shoulder. And you call yourselves a joint working group for the implementation of international human rights standards! All of what you have concluded in your so- called meeting, makes me want to question whether you even know what human rights are, let alone what  international human rights standards stand and call for... How shallow... how shallow gentlemen... 

Denied!

So yet again Christoff Strasser was denied his visa for Azerbaijan (he was denied visa earlier in March, January and now October). And each time, a different explanation (or excuse) is brought forward by the officials of Azerbaijani authorities to justify the rejection. 

Strasser is the rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Unfortunately this man, was not able to visit the country since his appointment to conclude his report. 

When Strasser was denied  his visa in August of this year, Elman Abdullayev, first secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Press Service, explained [ENG] the rejection as a result of "the lack of universal criteria on determining whom to regard as political prisoners" and so since there was no criteria, there was no need for the visit. 

And when his visa was denied for another time just now in October, this time, the official explanation circulating in local media [AZ] was that Strasser failed to provide an official invitation letter from PACE Azerbaijan office. Otherwise there are no problems with Strasser's traveling to Azerbaijan the only problem being his mandate. 

One thing that keeps bugging me is that if Strasser can't get a visa, why won't he include this in his report and finalize his conclusions based on "distant research"? Why not connect with civil societies working in Azerbaijan on the issue of political prisoners online, have a series of conference calls? These institutions, can provide Strasser with footage, photographs, any other material he needs. They could be his eyes and ears in the field. 

But oh well... Perhaps Strasser has a certain way of preparing his reports. I just hope this time, his comments of what he would do if authorities don't grant him visa (which they didn't), actually become a reality and he does something about it.

A reality check...

My last two visits to Brussels  shaped up a rather clear vision of where EU stands in its relation to our region and Azerbaijan in particular. Conclusion drawn: my country, nor this region is a number one priority for international institutions, at least not when their interests are not at stake.

In a way, I am thankful to the honesty I saw in Brussels and yet I am frustrated at the same time. EU's biggest concert at the moment is the monetary crisis (surprise! surprise!). That is all parliament members talk about (more or less) and all they really care. Any discussion outside of this issue- including currently popular topics like visa- free travel/ visa facilitation are not of interest, let alone talk and lobbying on democracy building, human rights, freedom of expression and more.

In case of Azerbaijan, the situation is even clearer- "as long as Azerbaijan has oil and gas, no 'sticks' would be used" as having heating in their homes, is just as fair and a human right for every European citizen relying on Azerbaijan's natural resources (so who cares if people get arrested when Europeans are warm in their homes). 

To my surprise, things got even better, when during one of the meetings, a speaker suggested looking at all mighty mother Russia and asking for "democratic sticks" on its behalf towards Azerbaijan, especially as Europe will continue its cooperation with Azerbaijan no matter what.

For so many times now, I have been hearing the very same tune, that Azerbaijan presents a challenge and not an easy one. This challenge however, is not about improving the overall situation in the country and pushing the local government towards more democracy but rather to play it so well, that Azerbaijan is not pissed off and doesn't suddenly cut back its oil and gas delivery. As one of the officials mentioned "Azerbaijan makes it difficult for us to apply stricter rules because of oil and gas and that is a fact".

Yes, facts are facts, and reality is what it is. What is not clear is the whole basis and philosophy of such institutions. If European Neighborhood Policy is all about stability, prosperity and democracy, why then officials in Europe prefer looking the other way, only to resemble the "three wise monkeys"? 

Facts are facts, reality is what it is. If Azerbaijan is going to change, this change must and ought only come from within. The question is, will it be possible. Lets hope it is, sooner than later...

Right to Information

Wanted to share a very interesting project launched very recently- World's First Rating of Right to Information with 89 countries currently being on the list of ranked countries.

Launched and initiated by two well known organizations- Access Info Europe and Canadian Centre for Law and Democracy- the full report can be accessed here.

The rating shows not only a country's overall score, but also its strengths and weaknesses in relation to seven main categories: Right of Access, Scope; Requesting Procedures; Exceptions and Refusals; Appeals; Sanctions and Protections; and Promotional Measures.

Azerbaijan is too on the list of 89 countries.

SOCAR's new plans

According to an article on Trend, the State Oil Company otherwise known to many as SOCAR intends reconstruction work of some of the country's old gas pipelines, construction of new ones and even improving gas supply to the regions. These new plans are part of the State Program on Azerbaijan's socio- economic development for 2009- 2013.

Under the program, Azerigaz (SOCAR's Production Unit) is instructed to construct and reconstruct main gas pipelines, improve gas supplies to the regions, new settlements, and to rehabilitate and reconstruct facilities for electrochemical protection of main gas pipelines and the electricity sector.

Sounds awful lot to me, especially if its completion date is set for 2013, but who knows, perhaps with a stroke of a miracle, our far out villages will to see gas in their homes, stop using wood and coal for heating and Azerbaijani children will have heating in their village schools and things will start getting better?

Who knows... we shall see in few years... 

Azerbaijan's own dictatorial rule

I was reading this article today on New York Times by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith, and thought I share some quotes that fit Azerbaijani leadership so perfectly. 

The article starts with the following introduction:

Despotic rulers stay in power by rewarding a small group of loyal supporters, often composed of key military officers, senior civil servants, and family members or clansmen

However the author of this piece argues that even this small group of supporters only does so because of the rewards expected for al their work done while suppressing opposition, silencing anyone who would go against the regime and therefore maintain their own version of stability and tranquility.  

As long as their cronies are assured of reliable access to lavish benefits, protest will be severely suppressed. 

Of course, some of the success stories of toppling a dictator portrayed in this article, do not fit Azerbaijan's scenario, nevertheless, there are some interesting facts worth noting and who knows, perhaps keeping in mind for future references... 

Donkey Bloggers speak at World Press Freedom Day

In 1993, following a Recommendation adopted during UNESCO's General Conference (1991), May 3rd, was proclaimed as the World Press Freedom Day. 

It serves as an opportunity to inform citizens and share information on press freedom violations taking place every day in many different corners around the world. 

It serves:

as a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended, and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered.

Held this year in the US following the tradition, World Press Freedom focused on themes like:
- New frontiers of news media
- A legal and regulatory perspective
- New barriers
- New trends of journalism

 While a number of other pressing issues were discussed, the conference also had guests. Among these, were the donkey bloggers, who spoke about their arrest, the donkey video, press freedom situation in Azerbaijan and much more: