“North Korea of Azerbaijan”

For more than 26 years, Vasif Talybov has been keeping Nakhchivan in a tight grip.

Those arrested during his reign were subjected to beatings and various tortures. Dissidents were forced into psychiatric hospitals. He also used his power to silence the independent media. Journalists and activists who criticized Talybov’s rule were subjected to pressure and arrests or were forced to leave the country.

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Azerbaijan scores 154 of 180 in the Reporters Without Borders’ 2022 Press Freedom Index

In it, Azerbaijan ranks 154th out of 180 countries, between Belarus (153) and Russia (155) and only two places above Afghanistan (156). The other two countries in the South Caucasus, Georgia and Armenia are ranked 89th and 51th respectively.

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Azerbaijan’s myths about a million Azerbaijani refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh – a refutation in numbers

For the past 30 years, the Azerbaijani authorities have been spreading lies, or rather myths about a million Azerbaijani refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh. Moreover, Azerbaijani historiography is silent about where this figure is taken from.

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Shushi massacre of 1920

“… I was stunned by the silence. I have never felt such a terrible, artificial silence. Suddenly the silence seems to murmur, the stones whisper and move and pounce, and the hairs stand on end. In March 1920, in three days, 7,000 houses were destroyed and burned here, according to some, 3-4 thousand Armenians were slaughtered, and according to others, more than 12 thousand. The fact is that none of the 35,000 Armenians remained in Shushi. Somewhere in the stream you can still see women’s hair covered in black blood. It’s hard for a man with a good imagination to breathe here. You walk, you walk, you walk through rows of charred buildings, or rather, pieces of walls, you hurry, fearing that you will never get out of here … “

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