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Recently a series of arrests in Azerbaijan, targeting independent media and their few journalists, has brought to mind the repression of civil society and bloggers 10-15 years ago. But has the persecution of Azerbaijan's civil society ever stopped?
The series of arrests that have targeted whatever remains of Azerbaijan’s independent media and its handful of journalists over the last two weeks brought back the memories of the donkey bloggers from 2008 and the unprecedented (at the time) crackdown on civil society that started in 2013 and continued into the following year. Has the persecution of Azerbaijan’s civil society ever stopped after? The answer is relatively simple. The hostile environment towards civic groups in Azerbaijan has never changed. And neither did the persecution. There may have been breaks in the crackdown, but no improvement has been achieved in the conditions and the environment for civil society to thrive. It has been a familiar pattern and an all too familiar approach in a country where people’s lives are nothing but bargaining chips.
Network of spies
The reason for the recent spree of arrests, which so far has targeted at least six journalists who have been sentenced to pretrial detentions on a slew of charges ranging from smuggling to illegal construction to hooliganism and resisting police, is an alleged spy network. Azerbaijani pro-government and state media claim that the United States has been quietly building a network of spies through its educational programmes, which started in the 1990s. None of the articles provides any evidence.
The state's Azerbaijan Press Agency, in an article published on November 22, accused USAID of being the “substructure of the US Central Intelligence Agency”, financially supporting NGOs and other initiatives for purposes outside of USAID’s mandate – namely changing the leadership in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani family values, and of being sympathetic towards Armenia. The same article also targeted LGBTQ organisations, the country’s feminist collective, and other online media platforms, including Abzas, for receiving funds from USAID.
On November 18, Azerbaijan State Television channel AzTV released a video titled, “U.S. agents in Azerbaijan are being unmasked: When will the hunt for them begin?” “Now Azerbaijan, to strengthen its military success, must win over the US’s anti-Azerbaijan ideology war. For this, Azerbaijan must be cleansed of the U.S. spy network; American corners created in Azerbaijan must be seriously investigated; activities of the USAID must be stopped and investigated”.
Strangely, neither of the outlets bothered looking at the total investment USAID has made in the country since 1993. According to the USAID’s website, that amount totals $431 million in programmes, including humanitarian relief, the healthcare sector, and economic and governance reform.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also summoned diplomats from the US, German, and French embassies. According to the statement released by the Foreign Ministry, the diplomats were informed “that Abzas Media news portal carried out illegal financial operations with the participation of organisations registered in these countries” and that “the embassies [of United States, France, and Germany] were also involved in this activity”. The statement also said the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “serious objection to this activity”.
The embassies promptly rejected the accusations. In an interview with the Voice of America, the US Embassy said these accusations were “false and fundamentally mis-characterise the purpose of [USAID]”. The German Embassy posted that it was “concerned about the accusations against [Mahammad] Kekalov,” whom the Embassy supported in December 2021, “in connection with a fashion show, organised by Kekalov Adaptive, on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities”.
Anti-US and anti-West grievances are not new to Azerbaijan. The most notorious one was spearheaded by Ramiz Mehdiyev, who in 2014 published a 60-page diatribe targeting Western institutions and their partners in Azerbaijan, leveling accusations left and right. “Today, disguising their true intentions, various international rights watchdogs, American and European think tanks (acting in partnership with the U.S.) and simple non-governmental organisations pretend to work on the human rights, democratic values, and market economy and have established a strong network across the world. These are the fifth column”, wrote Mehdiyev.
Almost ten years later, it is all the same. As seasoned political commentator Camil Hasanli said in a recent interview with Meydan TV, in post-war Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev is still after the people holding him to account, while the relationship with the West has taken a different turn: “I sell you oil and buy Boeings from you. You cannot ask for freedoms and democracy; that is our internal business”. The goal of the most recent smear campaign is to discredit Western values in the eyes of the local population, notes Hasanli.
Risky business
Reporting about state corruption in Azerbaijan has always been a risky business. Scores of journalists have been targeted for their investigative work. So it was not at all surprising that it was the turn of Abzas Media. This independent online news platform has uncovered numerous opaque transactions, business ventures, and questionable state tenders linked directly to the government in Azerbaijan or its affiliates. Especially in the last two years, the platform diligently investigated the types of investments that were made in Nagorno Karabakh since Azerbaijan secured victory following the 44-day war fought in September 2020. Like the story about the construction of an airport in Fizuli and the absence of any information on how the companies involved in the construction secured tenders or specifics on the allocated budget for the construction. Or the story about state-affiliated companies that benefited from construction tenders in Lachin and elsewhere in territories regained during the Second War, while not disclosing the amount of state-allocated funds to these companies. Or how a company typically involved in sewage work, water reservoirs, and drinking water pipes took over housing construction in Terter and many more.
In November, Abzas Media director Ulvi Hasanli and the editor-in-chief Sevinc Vagifgizi were sent to pre-trial detention on bogus smuggling charges . Another contributor and Abzas Media partner, disability rights activist Mahammad Kekalov, is also facing the exact charges and is now in pretrial detention. Journalist Nargiz Abusalamova was also arrested shortly after. On December 6, the platform’s social media manager was questioned by the police. Bank accounts of its employees under the investigation and their family members’ have also been reportedly frozen.
Post-war dreams vs reality
Following the Second Karabakh War, Azerbaijan’s disillusioned civil society hoped the war would end years of human rights crackdown in Azerbaijan. This transition never happened. In fact, fear and impunity kept growing. Restrictive legislation and intimidation of civil society members (including those who openly embraced the actions of the state during the war) were all back to business as usual. Meanwhile, the state felt more emboldened after the victory in the war, and what once may have worked – like international advocacy campaigns or naming and shaming – no longer does. Meanwhile, those who rallied behind the state watch idly as the crackdown continues. Aliyev’s crackdown remains the same, the only thing changing are the names of those sent behind bars and of those advocating for their release.
