Azerbaijan: Azeri-Armenian Gay Romance Withdrawn From Bookstores

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Thursday, March 12, 2009
NEWS BRIEFS

AZERBAIJAN: AZERI-ARMENIAN GAY ROMANCE WITHDRAWN FROM BOOKSTORES

After only a few weeks in circulation, the bestseller
Azerbaijani-Armenian gay romance novel "Artush and Zaur" has been
withdrawn from Baku bookstores amid growing controversy about the
work.

In an interview with the Azeri-language Radio Liberty, author Alekper
Aliyev stated that Baku police had questioned him about the novel’s
references to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. A presentation of
the novel, scheduled for March 11, was abruptly canceled. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive,
ightb/articles/eav030409c.shtml].