EurasiaNet, NY
Sept 20 2005
YOUTH ACTIVISTS IN AZERBAIJAN SAY THEY ARE BEING TARGETED BY
GOVERNMENT
Khadija Ismayilova 9/20/05
As Azerbaijan’s November 6 parliamentary elections draw closer,
opposition and youth organization representatives say they are
feeling increased pressure from the government. Their concerns have
been stoked by the recent arrests of youth activists, one of them a
Ukrainian citizen.
On September 12, Yeni Fikir Deputy chairperson Said Nuri was detained
for 48 hours on suspicion of conspiring to stage a coup against the
Azerbaijani government. While attending a training session in Poland
that was sponsored by the National Democratic Institute, Nuri
allegedly received instruction on organizing anti-government protests
with the aim of overthrowing the established order, Azerbaijani
officials contend. Nuri had assumed responsibility for running Yeni
Fikir, a youth group loosely aligned with the opposition Popular
Front Party of Azerbaijan, shortly after the August arrest of Ruslan
Bashirli, the group’s leader. Bashirli was charged with conspiring
with Armenian special services to foment unrest in Azerbaijan. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. The same day as Nuri’s
detention, Ramin Tagiyev, another Yeni Fikir deputy chairperson, was
sentenced to a three-month prison term for his role in a supposed
coup plot.
The US State Department has sharply criticized Nuri’s arrest. In a
September 15 interview broadcast by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s
Azeri Service, Terry Davidson, a US State Department official,
expressed concern that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s
administration was trying to squelch legitimate domestic political
opposition. “The US government is concerned [by] the arrest of youth
leaders in Azerbaijan as well as the campaign against the Popular
Front Party,” Davidson said. `We urge the Azeri government to provide
basic civil liberties in preparation for the parliamentary elections,
including freedom of assembly, equal access to the media and not
being a subject of pressure.”
In an interview with EurasiaNet, Popular Front Party Chairman Ali
Kerimli stated that the arrests were motivated by the authorities’
fear of Yeni Fikir’s increasing popularity and the related need to
reduce youth activism in Azerbaijan. “They [authorities] think that
the only way to make these young people stop the struggle is to
isolate them,” Kerimli said “However, the opposition’s rallies
demonstrate that, more and more, orange-clad youth have joined the
nationwide struggle against dictatorship.” [For additional
information see the Eurasia Insight archive].
The Popular Front Party has responded to Nuri’s arrest with a blood
donation campaign for individuals suffering from thalassemia, a
series of genetic blood disorders from which the Yeni Fikir activist
suffers. Soon after his arrest, Nuri was taken to the Musa Nagiyev
Emergency Hospital in serious condition. Nuri’s family, friends and
lawyer have not been allowed to see the detainee since his
hospitalization. A statement released by doctors two days after
Nuri’s arrest said that the youth activist’s condition had
stabilized. The state prosecutor’s office has since reportedly
stalled its investigation out of consideration for Nuri’s health.
Nonetheless, the scandals surrounding Yeni Fikir show no sign of
abating. On September 15, organization members reportedly discovered
three hand grenades and a cartridge of TNT in the group’s main office
in Baku. Media reported that the police officer called to the scene
to investigate refused to remove the explosives. The building also
houses the offices of the opposition newspaper Azadliq and the
Popular Front. Azadliq Editor Ganimat Zahidov, reportedly accompanied
by foreign and local journalists, eventually took a bag with the
explosives to the local police station. Zahidov claimed that the
explosives were deliberately planted by authorities to provide
justification for another Yeni Fikir arrest, and to search the
organization’s headquarters. Zahidov has since ordered all
individuals entering the building to be checked. Police pledged to
conduct a thorough investigation of the incident, but have not issued
any updates.
Some human rights activists believe that the arrests of Yeni Fikir
members are designed to reduce the potential for a election-related
protest in Baku akin to those that occurred in Georgia and Ukraine in
2003 and 2004 respectively. Those protests resulted in regime-change
in Tbilisi and Kyiv. [For additional information see the Eurasia
Insight archive]. Georgian and Ukrainian youth groups played key
roles in organizing those demonstrations. [For background see the
Eurasia Insight archive]. “The former leaderships of Georgia and
Ukraine never took such tough action against youth leaders,” said
Saida Gojamanli, director of the Bureau of Human Rights and Law
Observance.
The arrest of a representative of the Ukrainian youth group Pora in
Baku has helped fuel speculation that the government plans to
discourage such organizations from playing any role in Azerbaijan’s
parliamentary elections. Azerbaijani authorities detained Sergei
Yevtushenko — an advisor to the Ukrainian foreign minister, and a
Pora leader – at Baku airport on September 15. Two days later, he was
forcibly returned to Ukraine. Yevtushenko had traveled to Azerbaijan
at the invitation of the opposition election bloc Azadliq to attend a
conference on democratization in Azerbaijan and Belarus.
No official reason was given for Yevtushenko’s detention. The
Ukrainian consul was allowed to meet with Yevtushenko only after the
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry lodged a formal diplomatic protest. In a
September 16 interview with Trend news agency, the country’s
ambassador to Baku, Igor Kizima stated that Azerbaijani officials had
violated international agreements by making the Ukrainian consul wait
five hours before seeing Yevtushenko. Ukrainian officials also
accused Azerbaijan of violating bilateral agreements that provide for
a no-visa entry to Azerbaijan for Ukrainian citizens.
Editor’s Note: Khadija Ismayilova is a freelance journalist based in
Baku.