'Lukashenka and Aliyev Shocked'

An Azerbaijani oppositionist told the truth about the local regime.

After the harsh suppression of protests and complicity in Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the Lukashenka regime has become untouchable throughout the civilized world. However, there is a country in the post-Soviet space where the dictator remains in the offices of European politicians, and the UN summit was even held in its capital. This is about Azerbaijan, where the Aliyev family has ruled since 1993.

What do the regime of Ilham Aliyev and Lukashenka have in common? How do ordinary Azerbaijanis live? What does the Azerbaijani opposition hope for? The Charter97.org website spoke about this with Ali Karimli, one of the leaders of the Azerbaijani opposition, the leader of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party.

— What do Aliyev and Lukashenka have in common? What do these two regimes have in common?

— In Azerbaijan, as in Belarus, there is an authoritarian regime that is not elected by the people and cannot yet be changed by the people.

There are a lot of similarities between the regime in Azerbaijan and the Lukashenka regime. But I'll tell you the most important ones.

In Azerbaijan, as in Belarus, all state bodies are subordinate to the head of state, Ilham Aliyev. Parliament, courts, local self-government bodies, election commissions and even 'developed' opposition parties are subordinate to the head of the country. Elections are always rigged. The list of deputies who are to be 'elected' to the parliament is approved personally.

Aliyev and Lukashenka are traditionally members of the international 'dictator club' and work for the protection and survival of repressive regimes around the world. Aliyev accuses the West, democratic states and politicians, in each of his speeches. Like Lukashenka, Aliyev lifted restrictions to be elected as president. Now he can 'elect' himself president as many times as he wants.

A year ago, he declared himself president-elect for the fifth time. Our opposition and we boycotted the elections. The OSCE and the international community as a whole said that the elections were held without political competition. Like Lukashenka, Aliyev also understands that the first democratic elections in the country will put an end to his rule.

Like the people of Belarus, the people of Azerbaijan are also under constant threats, repression and fear. There are currently 330 political prisoners in Azerbaijan. As in Belarus, Azerbaijan has eliminated political competition, a free press, civil society has been virtually destroyed, and rallies and other mass actions have been banned for six years.

Despite all these similarities, Azerbaijan has not yet become absolutely similar to Belarus. For example, the Azerbaijani authorities have not yet burned the last bridges with the West, despite their harsh criticism, channels of dialogue with the United States, the EU and the Council of Europe are not completely closed. Although Azerbaijan declared Russia its ally, it did not 'advance' enough to create a 'union state' with Russia, like Belarus. Despite the terrible repressions in Azerbaijan, the number of political prisoners in our country has not yet fully reached the 'standard' of Belarus.

However, all these differences are not related to the personal qualities of Ilham Aliyev, but to objective historical, geographical and economic factors.

First of all, Azerbaijanis are not close to Russia on ethnic and religious grounds. On the contrary, our people consider themselves closer to Turkey in national identity, and Turkey is a NATO member state.

Ilham Aliyev's family is the richest family in Azerbaijan. Investigative journalists estimate their condition in Western countries, especially in offshore zones, at tens of billions of dollars. Therefore, it is very important for Aliyev to avoid international sanctions. Ilham Aliyev wants to continue a policy that destroys all democratic institutions in the country, excludes the possibility of free elections and competition, keeps the people in fear, ensures their permanent power, but at the same time they are not subject to international sanctions.

As for democracy, human rights and freedoms, people's power, he is, of course, very close to his friends — Putin and Lukashenka. In one of his speeches, Lukashenka said about Ilham Aliyev that "he is absolutely our man."

— Recently, a climate summit was held in Azerbaijan. According to human rights activists, a new wave of repression began in Azerbaijan after the COP29 summit. What is the current human rights situation in Azerbaijan? How many political prisoners are there in the country?

— Unfortunately, the COP29 held in November last year in Azerbaijan failed to present a positive image of our country to the world. In the days of COP29, the international media wrote even more articles demanding the release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Also because it was in 2024 that repression in Azerbaijan reached its peak.

Over the past year and a half, the number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan has tripled, and now it has reached 330 people. Although this is much less than the number of political prisoners in Belarus, it is still a large number, which clearly demonstrates the repressive situation in the country.

It should be noted that the arrests in Azerbaijan are not related to mass post-election protests, as in Belarus. If I'm correct, the number of political prisoners in Belarus increased due to the arrest of numerous ordinary citizens who protested against the election fraud following the 2020 presidential election.

Election protests similar to the 2020 events in Belarus, but on a relatively small scale, took place in Azerbaijan after the 2003 presidential elections and the 2005 parliamentary elections.

Protesters against the falsification of the 2003 presidential election were brutally dispersed by the police and internal troops, more than a thousand opposition activists were arrested.

In 2005, when we protested against the falsification of the parliamentary elections and decided to hold a sit-in action together with about 30,000 demonstrators, the rally was still brutally dispersed by the police and internal troops, and more than a thousand participants in the sit-in strike received medium and serious injuries.

We began to boycott all elections held in Azerbaijan since 2015, because there is no possibility of competition, and the election results are known in advance.

I provided these explanations because the 330 political prisoners in Azerbaijan were arrested intentionally and systematically, primarily due to their political and public activities. Torture of detainees is a prevalent practice in the country.

We held the last approved rally in Azerbaijan 6 years ago, on January 19, 2019. Since then, rallies have been banned. On October 19, 2019, our attempt to hold a rally without state approval was stopped by police. More than 650 demonstrators were arrested, 100 demonstrators were severely tortured.

Independent television and newspapers have long been closed in the country, and independent websites have been blocked. Currently, up to 30 journalists, all well-known civil society activists, a large number of opposition activists and religious figures are in prison in Azerbaijan.

Indeed, as soon as the COP29 summit ended, the Azerbaijani authorities began a new wave of repression. Former political prisoner Rufat Safarov was arrested, he is the most famous human rights activist in the country. Famous independent politician Azer Gasymly and 7 employees of the very popular Meydan TV channel in Azerbaijan, its headquarters are located in Europe. Although the European Parliament, the US State Department, the members of the US Congress and senators threatened the Azerbaijani authorities with targeted sanctions for political arrests, no sanctions were applied to representatives of the Aliyev regime. We believe that international organizations should increase pressure on the Aliyev regime to finally force the Azerbaijani authorities to release political prisoners.

— Recently, Igbal Abilov, a Talysh scientist from Belarus, was arrested in Azerbaijan. The authorities accuse him of treason. Why is the Aliyev regime persecuting the Talysh people?

— Not only Talysh social activists, but also every Azerbaijani became victims of the repressive regime in Azerbaijan.

However, it is also a fact that the repressive regime in Azerbaijan is also interested in presenting itself to ordinary people as the main defender of the state. Therefore, fictitious 'enemies of the people' are created by the regime to create a justification for some repressions of the authoritarian regime.

We, as a political party, demand freedom for each of the 330 political prisoners declared political prisoners by human rights organizations, regardless of their ethnic, religious or other affiliations.

— Syria is now on the agenda of the whole world. The Assad family, who had ruled the country for 30 years, was overthrown. What is the goal of the Azerbaijani opposition? Is there hope for change?

— The overthrow of the Assad regime in Syria is of global importance. The Assad regime was the most brutal and ruthless of the regimes and dictatorships in the world. However, he was also defeated. Seeing the overthrow of Assad's brutal dictatorship, all the leaders of authoritarian regimes in the world, including Lukashenka and Aliyev, were deeply shocked. They realized that even mass arrests, torture, and murder no longer guaranteed eternal power. They understand that no one can be more cruel and ruthless than Assad, but even Assad was ultimately defeated. Secondly, Lukashenka, Aliyev, and other authoritarian leaders who took refuge in Russia saw that Russia was already too weak and could not protect the regimes that were its allies.

Let's take into account that all this was also seen by the peoples who were enslaved by the regimes. Therefore, I say with confidence that the fall of Assad inspired all oppressed peoples, as it shocked all authoritarian leaders. They've got it and believe that if they fight together, they can defeat the regime.

Our main task, as the opposition of Azerbaijan, is to try to make our people more massively involved in the struggle for their rights. We really want the transition from authoritarianism to democracy in our country to become possible through peaceful struggle. Therefore, despite all the difficulties, we are trying to maintain the presence of the legal opposition in the country.

Undoubtedly, you and your readers also imagine that in a country with 330 political prisoners, where all independent media are closed and where civil society and opposition activists are massively arrested, it is very difficult to continue opposition political activities inside the country. Despite all the difficulties, we continue our activities. We support our institutions. But what difficulties does all this cost us? In recent years, more than 50 activists of our party have become political prisoners. Up to 300 of our party activists were arrested administratively. Most party members are dismissed from their jobs and are unemployed. My deputies, advisors, even my assistant and driver were arrested. My close relatives and family members have been arrested.

During the trials of political prisoners held so far, it became clear that at least 10 people were tortured at various times to give false testimony against me and create grounds for my arrest. The regime has banned me from leaving the country for 19 years. My passport was taken away, and they won’t return it. We are not allowed to rent an office. They blew up one of our rented offices and welded the door in another one.

Five years ago, I was blocked from the Internet. Even my mobile phone works only during the day — from 8 am to 8 pm.

However, despite all the difficulties that I mentioned and even more, we continue our opposition activities inside the country. We expose the Aliyev regime and manage the opposition. We support a democratic alternative to the Aliyev regime while maintaining the prospect of peaceful change.

Of course, we hope for changes. I am sure that both the Lukashenka regime and the regime of his friend Aliyev will be defeated.

All of our people must join the fight for democracy and freedom to hasten the end of these regimes.

— Belarusians do not know much about how ordinary Azerbaijanis live — your incomes and prices. Please tell our readers.

— Azerbaijan is a rich country with natural resources. Over the past 25 years, we have earned $250 billion just from oil and gas exports. Unfortunately, the Aliyev regime failed to build a real, modern, export-oriented economy in our country using such large oil and gas incomes. Due to the monopoly of the oligarchy in the economy, Azerbaijan does not develop other economic sectors besides oil and gas.

In 2024, the export potential of the country's non-oil sector amounted to only $3 billion. A small group of officials, oligarchs and their entourage are extremely rich, while the absolute majority of the population is very poor.

With a workforce of 5,250,000 people in the country, only 1.7 million of them (about a third) have a permanent job. The average monthly paycheck of workers in the country is only $580. The minimum wage will rise from $203 to $235 this year. The government pursues such a policy that the number of people receiving age-related and disability benefits in the country is very small.

The retirement age in Azerbaijan is 65 years for men and women the same. Only 11% of the country's population receives benefits. 46% of men in Azerbaijan die before reaching retirement age. The government deprives old-age allowances for those who have not transferred enough money (about $21,000) to the social protection fund during their working period. Thus, approximately 15% of Azerbaijanis who have reached retirement age are deprived of the right to receive old-age allowances. The old-age allowance is only $130 per month.

Prices in Azerbaijan are not only the highest in the CIS region, but even higher than in most European countries. Independent economists have found that inflation has held steady at 20%-30% each year for the past 5 years. Millions of Azerbaijanis left our country in search of work. They go abroad to become labour migrants. Since 2006, Ilham Aliyev has abolished child benefits in Azerbaijan.

Despite all these intolerable social problems, the government of Azerbaijan spends a lot of money to support authoritarian regimes around the world. Azerbaijani officials are proud to report that to date, Azerbaijan has provided humanitarian assistance to 140 countries. The people of Azerbaijan, doomed to live in poverty and unemployment, are outraged by these statements. There is great social tension in Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, the authorities are doing everything to ensure a social explosion in Azerbaijan.

In conclusion, I want to tell your readers that here in Azerbaijan we are closely following the struggle of the Belarusian people for democracy. Especially after the 2020 protests. The mass movement of the Belarusian people for free elections was met with great sympathy in Azerbaijan. It is a pity that the Lukashenka regime managed to suppress the struggle of the Belarusian people for free elections with harsh and brutal repressions. However, we know that the people of Belarus will not give up, and we believe that one day the struggling people of Belarus will win and establish democracy in their country. We are sure that there will be changes in Azerbaijan as well. We believe that Belarus and Azerbaijan will get rid of authoritarian regimes soon. The relations of friendship and solidarity between our peoples will become stronger. Unlike Lukashenka-Aliyev's friendship, people will be friends in democratic Belarus and democratic Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan and Belarus will freely develop as part of the large European family.

You can support the website Charter97.org

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com