Emin Milli, was supposed to be a speaker on coming Friday at Personal Democracy Forum: Poland and CEE. Unfortunately, on Saturday 26th he was one of the arrested demonstrators in Baku, Azerbaijan. We have reached out to Arzu Geybullayeva, also Azeri blogger and activist, to better understand the situation.
Jakub: Why Emin and other people were arrested yesterday?
I will have to start by explaining the build up to what happened yesterday.
On January 12th, a protest was organized in Baku at the Fountain Square to express concerns with deaths of conscripts in Azerbaijan’s military service. But it was a recent death that instigated this protest. A 19-yeard-old conscript by the name of Ceyhun Qubatov “died” while doing his military service. It wasn’t until his family publicized photos of Ceyhun and his injured body (allegedly the military service’s medical paper stated that he had a heart failure, even though the guy was perfectly healthy) that the distress esp. on social media began to grow. This was by far one of the largest unsanctioned protests in Baku. As always police was prepared, though they were less aggressive. Still there were many arrested and because of our new legislation on the right to assembly the fines were very high.
Then on January 19th, merchants from Bina Trade Center joined in protest to oppose the increase in rent tax. Police used tear gas against merchants, a road coming into the city was blocked. According to some reports, dozens were arrested, mistreated and beaten at the police stations.
Few days later, on January 23rd around 10pm people in a town approximately 300km from Baku got involved in what turned into a much larger protest. It all began with a car accident caused by relatives of the local governor. Who offered money to buy all women of Ismayilli (the town where protests broke out). Outraged, people burned down the “hotel” (allegedly brothel) also owned by the governor and several of his cars and a scooter. They said he was the reason of unemployment and poverty in the region. In return, police used tear gas against unarmed men, as well as water cannons. Protests continued over the next few days and up until now there is a state of emergency with police patrol everywhere and arrests continuing to this day. Some eyewitnesses report that police stops anyone who wallks in a group and if they don’t like these people they simply arrest them. there are troops deployed to stay till march. a rumor spread yesterday on social media that the governor was to resign however it hasn’t been confirmed yet.
And once again, more than 100 people were arrested (the number is growing as I write this); tortures, beating, ill treatment and more.
And yesterday, around 300 young people went to the streets to protest police treatment of unarmed civilians. they called for police joining the people, they asked for protection but to no avail. Police brutally disperced activists with number of arrested as high as 100 and fines ranging from 300AZN to 3000AZN. Among those who received administrative detention was Emin Milli. Khadija Ismayil, prominent journalist was too arrested briefly but then she was let go, and fined with 400AZN.
Jakub: Does police and government often use the brutal force to disperse protests?
Yes, very often. There is no “polite” way with the police. I am not sure, if you have seen it but if you watch most of the footage from yesterday you will see how they treat protesters. and thats the case. most of the time they don’t even care about journalists or prominent figures.
Jakub: So, how would you describe Azerbaijani political system? Not democracy obviously.
of course not. it described as authoritarian, semi authoritarian, semisultanistic. i see it as authoritarian state with elements of dictatorship and semisulnatistic rule. though i would need to add that our authorities claim Azerbaijan to be a young democracy
Jakub: What authorities?
Most of the government representatives. Most outspoken (and this is the strange part because our president never makes statements about protests at home) Ali Hasanov. Then there are others too. Parliament members for instance. esp. now that our parliament is majority YAP (ruling party) members.
Jakub: And also Azerbaijan is e.g. in OpenGovernment Partnership. How much of a true wish is it to become open and how much of a PR game?
Azerbaijani leadership is trying to portray itself as open and transparent esp. on international level. A number of lobbyists work in this direction in Europe for instance. I personally consider this empty talk. because so far it hasn’t done anything to play by the rules of Open Government Partnership for instance. It is mostly as you rightly put it, a PR game.
Jakub: Arrest of Emin (not the first by the way) will once again ignite social media campaign demanding his release and many organisations are already demanding his release - something we support. It will also raise awareness about prolbme in Azerbaijan. But for people who are not following the topic - what is the problem?
As i said earlier on, there is a culmination point. It all began with a soldier who was brought to his family in a coffin with a medical report that he had a heart failure. even though he was a healthy young man. but of course all of this distrest is much deeper. given the way azerbaijani leadership runs the country, corruption, and other issues as abuse of human rights, lack of freedom of expression. there is a tension that is growing and people are fed up. these past events were just triggers of overall distrest that exists in the country. we haven’t had free and fair elections since 1993. civil societies are limited and there are no legal basis for people to refer to when their rights are violated.
Jakub: Do you see any real chance in 2013 election for a change?
i am sceptical about the upcoming presidential elections. but then again, i could have never predicted the events of the past two weeks. so maybe there is a small chance for change. but for this to happen, people and esp. young people as they seem to be the driving force behind these recent protests must continue raising their concerns. but its hard, esp. seeing how police treates protesters and ridiculous fines that are given to these protesters. how can you expect a young man for instance pay 3000AZN in fines? its all done with one aim only, to silnce people and yield them. The optimist Emin would say yes, there is a possibility but I am as i said in the beginning sceptical.
Jakub: Do you think we will hear more stories regarding demonstrations around elections?
Absolutely. These are not the last protests thats for sure. It is not certain what the actions in Ismayilli going to bring, and there is a solidarity in Baku. I am just wondering which other regions will rise too. Just like in Quba we are yet to see what will happen elsewhere.
Jakub: What could and/or should a blogger/activist from other country do best in order to help you in this cause?
spread the information. yesterday there was amost no international coverage of what was happening in baku and so its important that bloggers/activsits follow hashtags, twitter users, and bloggers from Azerbaijan to stay up to date on events and the rest of news. only closer to the evening (and today) international audience picked up on the events. and of course, creating a support network. esp. now that PACE voted down on the political prisoners resolution prepared by Strasser, we need as much international support to shed light on what is happening as we can get.
Jakub: Do you think Emin will be released before the 15 day administrative arrest?
i doubt it. they know pretty damn well who Emin is. and if he wasn’t released yesterday it means that there is a high chance that he will stay detained for these days. now of course, he might be released. but noone knows this. and because it wasn’t him who was sentenced to 15 days (others were sentenced to 13 days for instance) they are trying to teach a lesson but its too late. what needs to be ensure is that these activists have access to their lawyers and as much international attention as possible.
Jakub: Thank you Arzu - will you be covering this on your blog?
Welcome. yes, in fact i have been. as of yesterday i have been sharing the videos, the updates and comments already. i am now also working on a new post that is linked to PACE resolutions. all of this is related. and there will be more updates too. and of course, twitter has been great. this is how i have been following events closely and managing to do all the updates
and translation.
Jakub: Great, so we direct to Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines.