Azerbaijani political expatriates concerned about safety of their families and friends

The space for freedom of expression in Azerbaijan is now roughly the same size as a jail cell. Azerbaijani rights activists and journalists are accordingly fleeing the country in growing numbers. Azerbaijani applications for asylum in the European Union increased by 16 percent between 2012 and 2013 to 2,360, according to the London-based Foreign Policy Centre, an independent think-tank, Nargiz Rashid writes in his article “Azerbaijanis Strive to Build Civil Society Away from Home,” published on the website Eurasianet.org.

According to the author, the authorities in Azerbaijan have carried out a far-reaching crackdown on all forms of dissent in recent years. The rapid deterioration began amid the Eurovision song contest, which Baku hosted in 2012. The crackdown intensified in the aftermath of the Euromaidan Revolution in Ukraine in early 2014.

The author writes that those who disagree with the government’s course, and who are not already behind bars, increasingly feel compelled to leave the country. The Azerbaijan Migration Center, a Baku-based organization that works on migrant issues, estimates that the pace of dissident flight has accelerated over the past year. Unemployment and low salaries associated with criticism of the government have helped fuel the trend, representatives of the center say.

“After the 2012 elections, we witnessed severe treatment of civil society by the government. Not only opposition members, but also civil society members, activists, journalists became a target,” said political analyst Arastun Orujlu, director of the Baku-based East –West Research Center stressing that the citizens are intimidated and imprisoned in Azerbaijan; many people had to flee to Europe.

The author reminds that Arzu Geybullayeva, an English-language blogger critical of the government, decided not to return to Azerbaijan last April, after receiving death threats and branded as a “traitor” on social media for her work for the Istanbul-based, Turkish-Armenian-language weekly Agos.

As the article has it, Berlin and Prague have particularly become favored destinations for Azerbaijani asylum seekers. Georgia, Azerbaijan’s northern neighbor, often serves as a gateway for those seeking asylum in EU states.

“Georgia is also seen as more secure than Turkey, Azerbaijan’s ethnic and cultural cousin; Ankara and Baku maintain strong political ties,” the author writes.

According to the article, 31-year-old blogger Habib Muntazir, who left Azerbaijan as a teenager, said that Azerbaijani dissidents often live their own life rather than fulfilling their public duties, because they want to be able to come back home to see relatives. He also told that he now works as a social-media manager for the Berlin-based Meydan TV, a media outlet critical of the Aliyev administration. Europe-based dissidents now rely heavily on social media to spread their messages. Blogger Muntazir believes that the virtual civil society that dissidents are creating is “more effective than the real one.”

The author highlights that many Azerbaijani expatriates declined to be interviewed out of concern for the safety of family members still in Azerbaijan.

“There is ample reason for those living abroad to worry about loved ones back home,” the author notes, giving the example of Tural Sadiqli, an Azerbaijani resident of Germany. After he joined a protest in Berlin this January against visiting President Aliyev, his brother, Erkin, was arrested for alleged illegal possession of narcotics. The Sadiqli family told reporters they believe the arrest was linked to Tural Sadiqli’s activities in Berlin.

However, the author claims that some expats remain undaunted by the risks. In Prague, economist Zohrab Ismayil, the head of the now-closed Public Association for Assistance to a Free Economy, an independent NGO targeting state-budget transparency and property rights, says that he still advocates for the rights of Azerbaijani political prisoners and publishes analyses of the country’s economy. Ordukhan Teymurkhan, now a Dutch citizen, became a civil activist after he left Azerbaijan, and regularly participates in Europe-based gatherings of dissidents and demonstrations against the authorities of Azerbaijan; however, he has no expectation that any such gatherings abroad will have an “instant outcome” on developments inside Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijani leaders are not giving an inch. Top officials vigorously deny that any Azerbaijani is being persecuted for his or her work or political beliefs. Not only that, but they go so far as to claim that Azerbaijan’s rights record can compare favorably to Western states, the author writes.