My personal blog, my thoughts.
The political leadership in Azerbaijan is trying to differentiate the impression of possibility of a new war with Armenia.
The Americans continue to claim that Ilham Aliyev is not inclined for a war while his entourage prefers using large-scale military actions. Washington does not believe in this much and judging by the information about Azerbaijan, they have concluded that the present-day Azerbaijan is not determined enough.
Read more “What’s the Possibility of New War and What’s the Format?”
Authorities in Azerbaijan and Georgia are facing mounting criticism for their possible role in the apparent kidnapping of Afgan Mukhtarli, the Azerbaijani journalist who disappeared from Tbilisi on May 29 and was next seen two days later being led into a Baku courtroom.
Mukhtarli has been charged with illegal border crossing, disorderly conduct, and currency violations. Police claim he did not have his passport when he was arrested and that he was carrying an undeclared €10,000 (about US$ 11,200). The court sentenced him to 90 days’ pre-trial detention.
Leyla Mustafayeva, Mukhtarli’s wife, told police that her husband had called to tell her he was on his way home after meeting with friends when he disappeared. She said he had no passport and no more than a few Georgian lari (about US$ 2) on him at the time.
Read more “Missing Journalist Sparks Protests, Conflicting Stories”
As Meydan.tv reports : Yunusov Family Safe From Interpol Extradition to Azerbaijan
Interpol will not arrest and deport Leyla Yunusova and her husband, Arif Yunusov, to Azerbaijan, Yunusov wrote on his Facebook page.
“The Azerbaijani authorities’ request for our arrest and forced deportation will be rejected. Thus, the question of our compulsory return with the help of Interpol is closed. But we are not going to finish our fight with this”, the Facebook statement reads.
Read more “Yunusov Family Safe From Interpol Extradition to Azerbaijan”
Deputy of the Milli Majlis (National Parliament) from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party and member of the human rights committee Elnam Nasirov in an interview with Radio Azadliq said that the detention of journalist Afgan Mukhtarli was the result of a joint Georgian-Azerbaijani successful special operation.
In response, the Georgian side categorically refuted these allegations in a public statement.
Read more “Contradictory Statements Surrounding Kidnapped Journalist Mukhtarli”
Famous writer and politician Eduard Limonov became a persona non grata in Azerbaijan – in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Transcaucasian state he was informed that he is on the black list. The reason is the visit of Nagorno-Karabakh to them. Now Limonov can not enter Azerbaijan.
Read more “Writer Eduard Limonov was banned from entering Azerbaijan”
And not surprisingly. No matter how much the Azeri authorities tried to convince the whole world that Armenia wants to attack, in reality everything is different. Armenia should not attack, why !? Everything what needed to be captured, already captured.
The report of the International Crisis Group on the Karabakh conflict has paved the way for various comments in Armenia, Azerbaijan and the NKR. The report “The clouds of war are gathering in the sky of Nagorno-Karabakh” speaks of the growing threat of war, the escalation of tension, which, in the opinion of the authors, can very suddenly lead to large-scale military actions. Nevertheless, there are experts who do not agree with the analytical part of the report.
Read more “Azerbaijan is inclined to attack, Armenia – to counterattack”
The Baku Court of Appeals has dismissed the appeal of investigative journalist Afghan Mukhtarli who has been arrested on 3-month, pretrial detention, APA reports.
The journalist has been accused of illegally crossing the state border (Article 318.1 of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code), smuggling contraband (206.1) and resisting the command of a customs’ officer (315.2).
Read more “Appeal of Afgan Mukhtarli Dismissed by Baku Court”
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has begun an investigation into the case of the death of writer-publicist Rafiq Taghiyev.
The complaint was forwarded to the ECHR by the deceased’s wife, Maya Tagiyeva. The application raises questions about violations of rights under Articles 2 (the right to life, in particular, state measures to protect these rights), 10 (freedom of expression) and 13 (the right to effective remedies) of the European Convention.
Read more “ECHR Begins Investigation into Death of Writer Rafiq Tagi”
Afgan Mukhtarli’s last article was called “Politically Motivated Kidnappings in Azerbaijan”.
It was first published back in late January of this year in Azerbaijani, and discusses several recent cases of kidnappings in Azerbaijan, many of which came about as a result of the victim’s activities in human rights, government, journalism and other fields.
Given Mukhtarli’s own recent disappearance, on May 29 in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, Meydan TV offers his most recent article in English below.
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Chairman of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety Mehman Huseynov was kidnapped by plainclothes policemen on January 9, 2017.
“I was attacked by eight people. My head was covered with a bag, my mouth gagged with a rag. They applied a taser to my legs and shoved me into a car. I couldn’t breathe. My nose was bleeding.”
Read more “Politically Motivated Kidnappings in Azerbaijan: a Trend in the Making?”
The United States is disturbed by the reported abduction in Tbilisi, Georgia, and subsequent arrest in Azerbaijan of Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli on May 30.
Read more “Statement on the Abduction and Arrest of Afgan Mukhtarli”