Vice Presidency for your own, intimidation for others

So the news of Mehriban Aliyeva, the wife of current president of Ilham Aliyev being appointed first VP traveled fast and for many has been a matter of ridiculing. 

It is pretty easy system- you are from the family, you get pampered, you get to do what you want, but if you are not... Then it is a whole other story. 

Just like the story of Netherlands based video blogger Ordukhan Babirov whose family members have been detained and questioned over the blogger's political activities outside of Azerbaijan. 

Or the story of Germany based rapper Jamal Ali. 

Or the story of 100 something political prisoners. 

Or like the stories of recently detained and sentenced to administrative detention activists: Rahim Shaliyev, Amil Mammadzade, Elchin Ismayilli, Farasat Ahmadov, Elvin Behremov and Namig Abbasaliyev. 

Or like the stories of so many others whose names we don't know. 

Yes, it is good to be part of the Aliyev family and be untouchable. 

For the narrowheaded apologists of Aliyev

I wrote this in the comments section of my blog, but then decided to also share it in a separate post. 

This was my response to a group of dedicated "trolls" who were protecting the two journalists (because obviously they can't stand their ground alone and need protection from those alike) and their absurd comments they made at a session during a side event in Riga for the World Press Freedom Day 2015. 

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Dear Ismayil, Anonymous x3, Aygun and Elmar,  

I want to address you all who are doing nothing from where you are sitting; who are turning their eyes away from the dire situation Azerbaijani people live in; who rather listen to the lies of President Aliyev and his cabinet; who have little respect, interest or care for those people who are locked up behind bars. You have chosen the easiest path - to remain silent, blind, and deaf. Your problem is (depending whether you are a real person or a troll) you have no respect for your country.
[...]
How can you so blindly refuse to see the reality? Perhaps you are of privileged kind - the ones who can afford the expensive life in Azerbaijan but snap out of it for a second and look around you. Visit a remote village in Azerbaijan. Do you actually know that there is no sewage system in many parts of our country? That there are electricity shortages? That there is still no heating despite our so-called "gas wealth"?

Have you visited a village school in the past year? Have you seen the dire conditions our children have to go to school everyday?

And these are just the basics!

You obviously have no interest in the future our generations because you have everything provided for yourself but what about millions of others?

Do you realize that out of 9.3 million of Azerbaijan population about 2million live and work in Russia? Do you know why they do that? You think its because of their love for Russia? No, its because President Aliyev doesn't give a shit about the well being of these people. If he was so democratic and caring as you make him to be then this would be visible in all levels of our society.

How can you reject the fact that we have so many pensioners across the country who are barely surviving?

How can you reject the fact that we have so many families struggling to make ends meet every day across Azerbaijan?

Baku isn't Azerbaijan. Those fancy, multi million/billion developments don't make lives of millions of other Azerbaijanis any easier, any better or any prettier.
[...]

And all of this, the best "they" could come up with was the following: 

No further comments...

Mr. President, you have failed us

President Aliyev,

These days letters addressed to you are popular. Even if it comes at great costs.

It is unfortunate...

Your ruthlessness, heartlessness is unfortunate. It is unfortunate for us. As we silently endure your reckless behavior toward us, towards this country, this land. 

As a citizen of Azerbaijan (before you take that away from mel) let me tell you (while I can) if not enlighten you that you have ruined this country and continue ruining it.

While chasing aspirations of something that is beyond my human understanding, you have ruined the lives of generations - at least from where I stand.

You have taken away from us, the most valuable - our future. You have infected the system that we live in, with a deadly virus - hopelessness.

Everything you have touched, is infected.

To cover this you have erected facades. Facades that hide Azerbaijan's reality.

In 2015, a country as rich in natural reserves as us, has political prisoners, no independent media, rights abuse and so much more.

You have wasted what rightly belongs to me and the rest of the 9.3 million people (or at least of those millions who still live in Azerbaijan) on your expensive toys and caprices.

You think we need Zahra Hadid?

We don't. Not when we have schools that are falling apart. Not when we have no equal rights. Not when we have no independent media. Not when we have free and fair elections. Not when we have ruined education and health care system. Not when our villages lack necessary infrastructure. Not when our very own future Hadids are facing inequality, violence and discrimination at home.  Not when we can raise our own generation of so many Hadids. Not when we have most of the country (with an exception of few towns that are taken care of thanks to its rich and well-connected governors) of development.

You think a villager in a remote village of Azerbaijan cares about Flame Towers?

These people care more about bringing food to a table, and struggling to care of their families. They worry whether tomorrow they are going to have electricity all day. Or whether they are going to have finally heating at their home. Or whether their children will finally have an education free of bribes. Or whether their local doctor won't demand money (which they don't have) to take care of a family member. Or whether tomorrow they are going to have the same job, whether they are going to get paid, whether there is anything beyond despair and misery.

Those Flame Towers are not making the lives of those people better.

Zahra Hadid's creation does not provide them with job security.

Another Olympic center or a park, does not assure them that their kids are going to have good future.

President Aliyev, your fellow Ministers, advisers, and many more who kiss up to you, or simply tell you what to do, you all have failed as leaders. You are frightened by your own people. You have become ruthless and blind to your own doing.

A high fence along the roads might hide these grievances from you as you drive to an opening of yet another multi-billion building.

You and the rest of you might think marble, glass and glitz can cure poverty but you are deeply mistaken.

Azerbaijan is tortured by and you alike.

It is unfortunate that in 21st century, we have people like you in power.

It is unfortunate Mr. President that you have failed your people and yourself...

Spring clean up in Azerbaijan- just in time for Novruz

Just in time- as Azerbaijani people get closer to celebrating Novruz- a traditional holiday welcoming spring- Azerbaijani government gives them a very nice spring present as part of the spring clean up. Instead of cleaning up the mess of corruption and their own wrong doings, they are after something else. On March 17th, the Sheki District Court sentenced Ilgar Mammadov and Tofig Yagublu to 7 and 5.6 years respectively. The two were arrested in February of 2013 during their visit to Ismayili, a region in northern Azerbaijan where people embraced 2013 with taking the streets and voicing their frustration with the social injustice and power abuse.

Ilgar Mammadov is the Chairman of the Republican Alternative Political Movement. He was meant to run in October 2013 Presidential Elections but due to his arrest was unable to. 

Tofig Yagubli is a journalist with the local opposition paper Yeni Musavat and deputy chairman of the opposition Musavat Party. The two were arrested on charges of inciting violence. Unlike the court and the authorities, Yagublu and Mammadov claim their visit had no such intention. According to a statement by the Institute of Reporters' Freedom and Safety, Mammadov and Yagublu went to Ismayilli to get first hand information of what was going on. 

If it is still not clear, let me chime in, the authorities were looking for an excuse to get the two arrested, perhaps they even developed a plan, but failed at implementing the original plan, when a new opportunity came knocking on their door. Aha! they said, how convenient, lets just arrest them when the two get to Ismayilli- there will be plenty of things then we could use against them. 

So here you have it- two more people in jail for what?! Isn't it clear that the only body responsible for inciting violence is the government itself?! How long and how many more arrests, detentions, and deaths, it is going to take for the international organisations like the Council of Europe to recognize that Azerbaijani government is is nothing short of an authoritarian state and that measures must be taken against? I guess not for a while... At least not as long as we have the oil, the gas, and of course, the caviar...

Not enough, never enough

We all know by now, that Azerbaijani authorities have a mind of their own- they come after freedom fighters, proponents of free speech, advocates of rights, opposition, youth- whoever they deem "unfit" to their typical soldier. Not only do they come after them but they sentence them under false pretenses- hooligans, drug possession, illegal arms possession, you name it. But when I read today of an underground theater shut down in Baku I realized once again- there is never a limit to what our authorities want, it is simply never enough for them! On November 23rd, the local police shut down the basement where an independent "Oda" theater recently moved. According to this article, police informed the theater actors that the local residents of the building complained of loud noise overheard during the practices. While its actors were released after giving their statements at the police station, the keys to the theater remained with the police.

So now we can add independent theaters too to the long list of "disliked" professions... I wonder how these things are decided? Someone gets up on a wrong foot in the morning, and after a short eeny, meeny, miny, moe game, a decision is made. Today it was the theater. Tomorrow it will be someone else. 

Not only has the police violated a number of constitutional provisions- private property protection, freedom to recreate, personal freedoms and more but it remains to be seen what will come out of this- probably not much. The theater will remain closed, and its actors will have to think of a new place, and maybe even a new name. 

The unlimited power will do this to you... Eventually you lose track of reality and yourself.

From presidency for life, to life long immunity- whats next for Azerbaijan? Life long police state?

It started with a Referendum in 2009 when Azerbaijani President, secured pretty much a presidency for life. But as this wasn't enough, in order to protect himself and his family from recent wave of criticisms and investigations targeting some of the personal and related shady businesses Azerbaijani Parliament (full of pro government puppets) passed two laws. From now on, the President and his family will have extensive immunity rights states one of the laws. The second law "bars government officials from distributing information about companies if doing so 'contradicts the national interests of Azerbaijan in political, economic, and monetary policy, the defense of public order, the health and moral values of the people, or harms the commercial or other interests of individuals."

How is this "necessary" I am not sure, so I am wondering whether the lawyer, Alasgar Mammadli,  didn't have any more concrete explanations apart from stating that "country's political landscape makes such protections necessary"? I thought we were a transparent democracy?!

Anyway, it is obvious that these new changes in our legislation are surely only meant to further embed the authoritarian rule in Azerbaijan and to limit advocates in their attempts to uncover the corrupted nature of most of the Azerbaijani leadership. What will be next? Asking for a permission to speak (though this too ain't far from becoming a reality- as those who speak of what is happening in the country are either "drug addicts", "traitors" or "hooligans")? I guess we'll see soon... how our country turns into a police state.