Center for National and International Studies

 

FB Digest@VoxPOPULI

15.11.2021

“In a country where people like Siyavush, Elmar Nasirov, Fikrat Mammadov, Kamaladdin Heydarov rule, people like Chingiz Abdullayev and Anar will be considered intellectuals.”

Post War Situation. Problems of veterans and families of the martyrs.

Azadlig Newspaper shared the story of Senior Lieutenant Damirov Yusif Elshad oghlu, a resident of the Sabirabad region, who was seriously wounded during the Second Karabakh War. As a result of his injuries, Damirov’s one finger was amputated, he suffered a severe brain injury and other minor injuries. However, Damirov has not yet received a degree of disability on the grounds that he did not have severe injuries. Damirov is not able to find a job due to his health condition, although his disability is not recognized.

Head of APFP Ali Karimli reacted to the recent developments in the mountainous part of Karabakh. Karimli argued that “the Russian “peacekeepers” who were invited by Ilham Aliyev have erected a monument to a Russian soldier guarding a little Armenian girl near Khojaly sends a message to the world that Armenian children are in danger in Karabakh, and a Russian soldier is protecting them.” Karimli added that by erecting such a monument, Russian “peacekeepers” not only disguise themselves as protectors of civilians and children but also cover up the Khojaly genocide when Armenian militants killed 63 children, 106 women and 70 elderly people in one night. Karimli also reacted to the attack on three Azerbaijani servicemen by Armenian militants in Karabakh. According to Karimli, this attack means that armed Armenians walk freely with guns near Shusha and are protected by Russian “peacekeepers”.

Gultakin Hajibeyli of NCDF argued that talks such as “the enemy have accepted the capitulation,” “Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity has been ensured”, “the Karabakh conflict is over” are an attempt to deceive the people again. In her opinion, “considering that Shusha was under direct attack at such a close range from Shushakend, which was mysteriously handed over to the Armenians after the November 10 declaration, it became clear why the civilian population is not allowed to return to Shusha.”

Governance, corruption, transparency

FB community actively commented on the news about the creation of the Organization of Turkic States. While most consider it a promising venture, a group of activists argued that it is another attempt by the authoritarian regimes calling it a “club of  dictators.” Referring to the newly established organization, journalist Seymur Hezi argued that “this is a union of rulers whose prisons are full of heroic and freedom-loving Turks. The unity of our peoples will begin with the advancement of science and culture on their free will!”

According to Arif Yunus, “the creation of the Organization of Turkish States in Istanbul is a logical culmination of the policy that the Turkish government has been pursuing in recent years against the backdrop of the new paradigm that the United States is shaping in relations between the main centers of the planet, which undoubtedly strengthens Turkey’s role as a regional power.” Yunus argued that “the Second Karabakh war, a new status quo in the South Caucasus, Turkey’s activity in the Black Sea, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Central Asia suggests that someone likes it or not, but very soon with this new political center  will have to be considered by everyone in the world.”

In his article written for Azadlig newspaper, Orkhan Bakhishli compared Azerbaijan with Norway in the light of the recent appointment of a young woman as the minister of Justice of Norway. Bakhishli wrote: When the Minister of Justice, Fikret Mammadov, was appointed to his position in 2000, the new Minister of Justice of Norway, Emily Enger Mehli, was seven years old. Today, she is 28 years old and is the Minister of Justice. In our country, people of this age are asked, “Do you know more than the president?” …They do not understand that for the country to be led by young people means to be a member of modern civilization, to develop and progress. Otherwise, people like Siyavush, Elmar Nasirov, Fikrat Mammadov, Kamaladdin Heydarov will rule the country, and people like Chingiz Abdullayev and Anar will be considered intellectuals.”

Azadlig newspaper reported that Sweden launched a trial on 100 million corruption cases involving the Azerbaijani government. Former vice president of Bombardier Sweden, Thomas Beamer, is on trial in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. Thomas Beamer is accused of bribing “some Azerbaijani officials” under a 2003 agreement between Bombardier and the then Ministry of Transport of Azerbaijan to supply equipment as part of a project to rebuild the Baku-Boyuk Kesik railway. A few years later, it was revealed that $ 100 million was “transferred” to Azerbaijani officials through a sharply inflated price and the use of intermediate offshore companies from the $ 350 million contract. The corruption scandal led to the resignation of the head of the Canadian company Bombardier, and the World Bank stopped lending to projects in which the company participates.

On Constitution Day, journalist Seymur Hezi reminded his followers of the constitutional violations  listing them as follows:

-Former chief executive and Karabakh veteran, Saleh Rustamli who is arrested on trumped-up is on the 7th day of hunger strike;

– The appeal of the member of APFP, Ramiz Jafarov, who was taken from his house to the police and illegally arrested, was not granted;

– Public activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was insulted by the authorities.

Human Rights and Liberties. 

Azadlig Newspaper reports that Saleh Rustamli‘s condition is deteriorating. Today, lawyer Bahruz Bayramov met with Saleh Rustamli at the Penitentiary Service‘s treatment facility. According to the lawyer, complications have already begun to occur in Saleh Rustamli‘s health, but he insists on his decision to continue the hunger strike and will refuse water intake from November 16. Activists and independent journalists keep demanding the immediate release of Rustamli, who was arrested on bogus charges.

Former political prisoner Tofig Yagublu informed his followers on FB that the Baku Court of Appeal did not allow him to leave the country to visit my mother’s grave. Yagublu added that,  when he was in prison, he had appealed to the court when his mother’s health was critical, but he was not allowed to see his mother in her last days. Although he applied again to attend the funeral, but his request was not granted.

APFP activist Nata Katamadze (Natalya Iorina), who was detained yesterday for attempting to protest in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has been released. In the morning, she was taken from the 37th police station of the Khatai district to the Baku Main Police Office and from there to her place of residence. Police officers gathered in front of her house and prevented Nata from giving an interview, forcing her to enter the house.

Ali Karimli condemned the arrest of Agil Humbatov, a member of the PPFA. Karimli said that although he personally doesn’t endorse Humbatov’s style of criticism, yet he is deeply concerned about Humbatov, who is struggling to support his three children.

Economy and Social Issues.

Fuad Gahramanli of APFP, in his FB post, complained about the current state of general backwardness, which he called “national suicide”. Gahramanli wrote: There is no single positive news in the country. Look at our headlines: “Release the person who was wrongfully imprisoned”, “Give child allowance”, “Solve the problems of veterans“, “Prices continue to rise,” and so on. We have been moving in the same vicious circle for years, we are stuck in the hands of the same problems, and we are not moving forward in terms of time and progress. The world is experiencing the 4th industrial revolution, with important technological innovations and applications such as artificial intelligence and entering a new era of production and management relations. In our country, farmers do not have water to cultivate their fields, they buy potatoes from Iran, meat from India, grain from Kazakhstan, butter from many places, and so on. The market is provided by import. Almost all industrial products come from abroad, except for tomatoes and oil. We cannot create any intellectual and technological products that we can sell abroad. In this backward environment, instead of giving an explanation on why they stole oil money and put the country in such a disgraceful and backward state, those in charge have been trying to hypnotize the people en masse with empty and absurd tales of development.”

Gubad Ibadoghlu criticized the minister of Labour and Social Protection, Sahil Babayev, for failing in providing pensions. Ibadoghlu wrote that if the minister keeps solving the issues with pensions by canceling the pensions of considerable numbers of citizens altogether and raising the retirement age in a few years, there will be no pensioners left in Azerbaijan.

Tural Abbasli in his post, pointed out to the lack of infrastructure in the rural areas. Abbasli wrote that in the Yardimli region, on the border with Iran, in the village of Zevin with only 180 households, there are five martyrs and 74 war veterans, yet there are no asphalt roads.

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