Category Archives: Uncategorized

13 Jan

More news coverage from Azerbaijan

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Programme summary of Azeri ANS TV “Xabarci” news 1700 gmt 12 Jan 13
BBC Monitoring International Reports – Sunday, January 13, 2013
Presenter Nigar Mahmudova

1. 0010 Headlines.

2. 0100 The Armenian armed forces have fired on Azerbaijani positions in Fuzuli District. No casualties are reported.

3. 0116 In a comment on the death of soldier Ceyhun Qubadov in a military unit in Daskasan District, the commander of the Samkir army Corps, Lt-Gen Rovsan Akbarov, said that two people have been arrested over the death incident and that every officer who is responsible for the incident will be punished. He also added that the claims about the beating of Qubadov are baseless.

4. 0233 Today a group of young people tried to stage a rally in Baku’s Fountains Square in protest at the death of soldier Ceyhun Qubadov. The police have demanded the participants in the rally to disperse as it was unauthorized. The participants in the rally chanted slogans: “Martyrs do not die! Country will not be divided!”, “Our soldiers should not die, our army should not turn into a morgue!”

5. 0310 The deputy chief of the Baku Police Main Department told ANS TV that about 350-400 people participated in the rally protesting the death of the army private and that 50 participants in the rally have been detained by the police for the violation of the public order.

6. 0338 A woman has died of carbon monoxide in northern Quba District.

7. 0553 Report on reconstruction work carried out in a section of the Qazimammad-Qazax pipeline which was damaged after the blast on 11 January.

8. 0845 Bad weather has inflicted damage to country’s economy to the tune of 10m manats.

9. 1122 Foreign news: France; Mali; the USA.

10. 1635 Nine years have passed since the introduction of the Latin alphabet in Azerbaijan .

11. 1920 Report on a camel in Yemen.

12. 2000 Presenter signs off. Weather.

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Azeris stage protest over soldier’s death, several detained
BBC Monitoring International Reports – Saturday, January 12, 2013
A group of people in Azerbaijan ‘s capital Baku are staging a rally protesting against the death of an army private, the Baku-based private APA news agency reported on 12 January. Some of the protesters were detained by the police.

A group of parents, whose sons died during military service in the army started the rally. They said that the soldiers had not died in combat and demanded that those responsible for their deaths be found and punished, APA reported.

The participants in the rally are carrying placards with slogans: “Martyrs do not die! Country will not be divided!”, “Our soldiers should not die, our army should not turn into a morgue!”, “End to the death of soldiers!”, APA said.

At first, police did not interfere, but later they demanded that the protesters disperse, saying that the rally was not authorized, APA reported, adding that several protesters, who chanted political slogans, were detained.

BBCM note: The rally was organized by a Facebook group following the death of an army private Ceyhun Qubadov, who died in a Defence Ministry unit in western Daskasan District on 7 January. A total of 77 Azerbaijani privates died in non-combat incidents in 2012.

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Programme summary of Azeri ANS TV “Xabarci” news 1700 gmt 11 Jan 13
BBC Monitoring International Reports – Sunday, January 13, 2013
Presenter Nigar Mahmudova

1. 0010 Headlines.

2. 0059 The Armenian armed forces have fired on Azerbaijani positions in Agdam, Goranboy and Tartar districts. No casualties are reported.

3. 0111 A blast took place in a section of the Qazimammad-Qazax pipeline passing through Goycay District on 11 January.

4. 0310 The head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General’s Office, Eldar Sultanov, told ANS TV that Prosecutor-General Zakir Qaralov has received the mother of soldier Ceyhun Qubadov who died in a military unit in western Daskasan District on 7 January. He also said that two suspects – a soldier and an officer have been arrested over the case.

5. 0404 The mother of the deceased soldier , Samira Qubadova, has addressed the public, saying he believes that the criminal case launched into the death of her son will be investigated objectively and the people responsible for the death of the soldier will be punished and that no-one has the right to use her sorrow for political gains.

6. 0435 Azerbaijani Ombudsman Elmira Suleymanova has appealed to the Military Prosecutor’s Office over the death of soldier Ceyhun Qubadov, asking to punish all culprits.

7. 0453 The Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General’s Office has issued a statement over the death of Sevinc Babayeva whose name was featured in controversial videos circulated by the former university rector Elsad Abdullayev. The statement says the investigation into the case is under way.

8. 0551 The judge of the Baku Serious Crimes Court, Haci Agababa Babayev, whose name was featured in a controversial video circulated by Elsad Abdullayev, has resigned from his post.

9. 0627 Report on snowfall in Samaxi District.

10. 0820 Report on a traffic jam caused by bad weather in Baku.

11. 1027 Air temperature will go up in the country starting from tomorrow.

12. 1040 Report on life insurance.

13. 1346 IDP families residing in hostels in Baku will be resettled to new houses in February.

14. 1524 Military training held at schools are inadequate; video report.

15. 1802 Sas newspaper marks its 22nd birthday today.

16. 1840 Report on Microsoft company’s privacy policy.

17. 1915 Presenter signs off.

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Security tightened in Azerbaijani capital ahead of rally – agency
BBC Monitoring International Reports – Saturday, January 12, 2013
Security has been heightened in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku ahead of the upcoming protest over the death of an army private in Azerbaijan , Baku-based private Turan news agency reported on 12 January.

The agency said the Azerbaijani authorities were “extremely afraid” of the upcoming rally and were taking all measures to prevent it.

“Police units and security services have been amassed in every district (in schools) of the capital since morning, and they are waiting for instructions,” the agency said.

“Yesterday [11 January], the authorities embarked on unprecedented propaganda. On behalf of numerous pro-government NGOs, they addressed people, urging them to call off the rally and refrain from destabilizing the situation,” the agency added.

“The grieved mother of soldier Ceyhun Qubadov, who had died in the military unit in Daskasan District, was shown by TV channels. In depression, she was calling on young people not to attend the rally, although just yesterday she was indignant urging the public not to remain silent,” the agency said.

The rally is to be held planned in the centre of Baku at about 12gmt on 12 January.

Original Source: Turan news agency, Baku

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13 Jan

#protestbaku hashtag versions 2 and 3

Since people are so fond of my first analysis, here’s a new one that is more up-to-date.

This is a bit harder to understand because it now includes all the people that have been retweeting, but hey, thought I’d share…

nodexl

Link to full version

Who is the most popular on this hashtag?

Top 10 Vertices, Ranked by Betweenness Centrality:
aztwi
ilKinHasani
muntezir
hajiyev
eminmilli
FuserLimon
JamalAliBaku
turkhankarim
damirama
abayramov

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Group 1 is now pro-government.

Here are their most popular words:
protestbaku
khadijautan
aztwi
azerbaijan
yolo
1/12/2013 12:00:00 AM
əskərölümünəson
əsgәrölümünәson
350çoxolar
əsgərölümünəson

The use of #khadijutan (an offensive tweet at a journalist) and “yolo” make it pretty clear.

Group 2 is the on-the-ground activists that tweet in English plus foreigners that are friendly with them (myself included).

Group 3 looks to be people in Turkey but also includes Bakhtiyar Hajiyev.

Group 3’s most popular words:
protestbaku
azerbaijan
əsgәrölümünәson
әsgәrölümünәson
türkiye
esgerolumuneson
khadijautan
azərbaycan
turkey
azerbaycan

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I ran this again on Sunday 12noon Pacific time.

noidexl

link to full

541 people tweeted using this hashtag.

Someone asked about location. People don’t always tell the truth, of course, but 167 of the tweeters listed Baku as their time zone. 264 (49%) of the tweeters listed Baku or Azerbaijan as their location.

12 Jan

#protestbaku hashtag analysis

EDIT 5pm Pacific, 5am Baku – Since this has been so popular, I’ve made a more inclusive version here.

Thankfully the hashtag #protestbaku caught on and I was able to archive the tweets for analysis. I helped create it about 3 hours before the protest started.

thebirthofahashtag

So here’s a map of the hashtag (thanks Marc Smith!)

nodexl map

link to full

What does this tangle of wires mean? These are clusters of people who are communicating with one another. You can see that there are some pretty tight networks here. (And if you’re familiar with the Azerbaijani Twitter scene, the clusters shouldn’t surprise you too much.)

Group G1 on the far left consists of a lot of Azerbaijanis who don’t live in Azerbaijan anymore. A lot of the URLs that they were tweeting can be considered ones that allow for them to “keep up” with what happened during the protest.

Group G2 are people that, more or less, were on the ground and centers around Adnan Hajizada. Their URLs tweeted were more of photos than liveblogs or videos. They also were more likely to talk about logistics – where police were, as well as break news.

Group G3 includes people that I’m not really familiar with. They linked to a lot of YouTube videos though and used words that are affiliated with the pro-government groups.

Group G4 is very much pro-government people. Their hashtags used were against the protest, more or less. Rauf Mardiyev, the leader of the pro-government youth group is the center of that.

Group G5 is more opposition but seems to center around Baxtiyar Hajiyev, another opposition leader. I’m not really sure why Baxtiyar’s group is so distance from Adnan’s. Perhaps Adnan (and Emin Milli) have a different Twitter following because of their relatively early fame and frequency of tweeting in English. Looking at Baxtiyar’s twitter confirms that he mostly tweets in Azerbaijani.

Groups G6 and G7 seems to be unimportant.

You can download an Excel spreadsheet of all of this and play around with things like word frequency — no statistical knowledge required.

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I also did a TweetReach analysis of #protestbaku. You can do the last 50 tweets for free. I bought a set of 1500 tweets though. Here’s what that found.

– There were 188,045 Twitter users who were exposed to a tweet that contained the #protestbaku hashtag.
– There were over a million “impressions” – 1,075,736 to be exact. That means, essentially, someone’s eyes potentially read #protestbaku over a million times in the last day.

The twitter who got the most exposure was Jamal Ali with 50,300 impressions. The most retweeted and most mentioned was @muntezir.

With that I have a list of tweets, most popular, etc. if anyone is interested.

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So what? What does this mean?

A few things…

1. In this protest, Twitter “mattered” – but it mattered in different ways for different people. For people on the ground, it was used a bit for logistics, but mostly for getting information out. For people not present, it was a way to spread information.

2. There is polarization. This isn’t surprising. I guess the amount of guff from the pro-government twitter crowd was a little new for me. They’ve gotten louder in the past year, but their simultaneous tweeting during the protest and use of the hashtag was interesting, to say the least.

3. Personally I “met” a lot of new Azerbaijani tweeters today through this hashtag. Were these people whom I just don’t run into otherwise? Were they people that don’t tweet usually but did for this event? It goes to show that a hashtag has the potential to bring people together.

4. Speaking to the clusters of groups, I wonder if someone who would be interested in pulling people together for greater collection action could focus on those people who are between networks?

I’d love to hear other thoughts on this. I usually keep my comments off to avoid spam, but I’ll turn it on now!

12 Jan

Media coverage of #protestbaku

Hundreds rally over Azerbaijan ‘s conscript death
Associated Press: Governmental News Report – Saturday, January 12, 2013
Author: AIDA SULTANOVA Associated Press
BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Several hundred people rallied Saturday in the center of Azerbaijan ‘s capital in protest at the death earlier this month of military conscript.

Many participants at the rally, which was organized through social media, held up photos of 18-year-old Jeyhun Gubadov, who authorities say died of heart failure. Gubadov’s mother says he was the victim of physical mistreatment.

Police ordered demonstrators to disperse and later forcibly broke up the gathering. Officials say several people were detained, but gave no specific number.

Anti-government rallies take place from time to time in the oil-rich former Soviet nation, and the meetings are almost always immediately broken up by police. Unusually, this meeting was organized entirely on online social media and involved none of the country’s few embattled opposition parties.

Most of those involved in the rally were young people and soldiers’ mothers.

In apparent recognition of the public indignation provoked by the Gubadov case, Defense Ministry officials said two people have been arrested and several high-ranking military officials punished over the death.

Protests are as a rule paid scant notice in state media, but this rally did earn some coverage and official comment.

Mubariz Gurbanly, a leading parliamentary deputy in the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party, told the APA state news agency that the voice of protesters had been heard. He warned against individuals with their own political agendas taking advantage of public outrage, however.

Authorities are wary of any signs of public dissent, particularly in view of this November’s upcoming presidential election, which is expected to see incumbent Ilham Aliyev easily retain his iron grip over the Caspian Sea nation.

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11 Jan

Tragedy to turns to protest?

It has been a busy week in Facebook.az (or whatever you want to call the Azerbaijani political reality that is Facebook (side note: do Azerbaijanis ever sleep? I keep up with the Facebook goings on all day long. It is so active!)

So this week, images came out that showed the beaten corpse of an 18-year-old Azerbaijani soldier Jeyhun Gubadov. The Azerbaijani government had tried to cover up the death, saying that it was a heart problem. But the family pressed and this came out.

The images caused a huge stir in the Azerbaijani Facebook world. Posts and images memes soon followed. Then a group of young activists called for a protest/gathering/whatever to be held on Saturday the 12th at 4pm Baku time. (This is overall to protest this killing, the cover up, the dozens of similar killings last year, etc. etc.)

What is incredible is that within 72 hours, over 15,000 people have said that they are “attending” the event. Adding up those “attending” “maybe attending” and “invited” is over 109,000 people!

What does it mean to “attend” – I don’t believe that over 15,000 are going to show up on Saturday. However, I don’t think that this is slacktivism either. These are real people acknowledging their support of this event in a fairly public way. That is not meaningless.

Here’s RFE/RL’s coverage.

Two things of note:
1. one of the Facebook group organizers has had his home and the homes of his family visited by the police already (thanks Arzu)
2. There is a new law that has huge fines for those engaging in unauthorized gatherings – $1000 for individuals, $40,000 for organizers.

Will people be fined on Saturday? Remains to be seen.

So, with that, I wanted to post the Azerbaijani language media (translated) on this topic… I don’t know what has been on TV yet, but I’ll post again tomorrow when I have it.

First Vice Speaker: There is a need for strengthening the discipline in Azerbaijani army
Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan ) – Saturday, January 12, 2013
Author: I. Izzet, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
Jan. 12–There is a need for strengthening the discipline in Azerbaijani army, the First Vice-Speaker of Milli Majlis (Parliament) Ziyafat Asgarov told Trend on Friday, expressing attitude to the death of Jeyhun Gubadov, a soldier in Dashkesen region military unit of the Ministry of Defence.

“The tragic death of every soldier is a big loss for us,” Askerov said and expressed his condolences to the family of the deceased.

Criminal proceedings and investigation are underway in connection with the incident, Askerov said.

“The investigation will determine who is guilty and who is not. This issue is under serious control of parliament. At this point, any statements may be interpreted as pressure over the investigation. I believe, the investigation will be carried out objectively and there should be no doubt concerning this matter. The investigation on this matter is taken under special control, and the public will be informed upon completion of the objective investigation,” the first deputy speaker said.

According to him, toughening of the punishment for prevention of criminal offenses in army is not expected. Alongside, he believes that in order to avoid a repetition of such cases, more control should be placed over military service.

“The Criminal Code provides sufficient punishment for these actions. I don’t think any changes are to be introduced to the Criminal Code or other legislation acts. But there is a need for strengthening control over matters of discipline in army, as well as strengthening control over relations among the soldiers and between the soldiers and the officers,” Askerov said.

Jeyhun Gubadov born in 1994, was called up for military service in the Absheron region. Few days ago he died in a military unit stationed in Dashkesan area.

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Azerbaijan ’s Defense Ministry punishes several officers over soldier ’s death
Azeri-Press News Agency ( Azerbaijan ) – Friday, January 11, 2013
The complete list of the officers, who were punished over the death of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces’ soldier Jeyhun Gubadov, has been made public. Spokesman for the Defense Ministry Eldar Sabiroglu told APA. He says: “As announced, Defense Minister, Colonel General Safar Abiyev has taken serious measures against several high-ranking officers, because they didn’t fulfill their duties properly.

Moreover, the commander of the brigade has been demoted. Brigade’s chief of staff has been dismissed. The commander, chief of staff of the battalion and the commander of the detachment have been demoted.” Two persons have already been arrested over the soldier ’s death.”

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Zakir Garalov receives soldier Jeyhun Gubadov’s mother
Azeri-Press News Agency ( Azerbaijan ) – Friday, January 11, 2013
Hafiz Heydarov; Two persons have been arrested over the death of Azerbaijani Army’s soldier Jeyhun Gubadov, the deceased soldier ’s mother Samira Gubadova told APA. Gubadova said that she has been received by Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov today: “The Prosecutor General said that the criminal case is being investigated under the control”. Samira Gubadova noted she was informed about the arrest of two persons – one soldier and officer over the incident.

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Soldier Jeyhun Gubadov’s mother Samira Gubadova addresses public
Azeri-Press News Agency ( Azerbaijan ) – Friday, January 11, 2013
Hafiz Heydarov; Addressing the Azerbaijani people and youth, I sincerely thank to everyone, who shared our grief due to the death of my son Jeyhun Gubadov”, it is noted in the appeal sent to APA by Samira Gubadova, mother of the deceased soldier of the military unit in Dashkasan.

The appeal reads: “I believe the Azerbaijani state and President Ilham Aliyev and hope that the criminal case on my son’s death will be investigated thoroughly and all the people accused of this accident will be brought to account.”

Several officials received me regarding this case. I am grateful to those persons and members of the parliament for supporting me and my family and sharing our grief. The support of our state and government is sufficient for us. No one has the right to take advantage of my grief, sorrow. I ask not to use it for political purposes and object to any action in connection with it.”

(Katy: there have been online reports that the mother doesn’t support the protest like this. I can only assume that regardless of her feelings, she is being made to say this.)

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Head of the press service of the Defense Ministry: “If the investigations detect other guilty people, they will also be punished”
Azeri-Press News Agency ( Azerbaijan ) – Friday, January 11, 2013
Mahbuba Gasimbayli; Azerbaijani Defense Ministry confirmed the information about punishing a number of senior officers Shamkir military unit. The head of the press service of the Defense Ministry, Colonel Eldar Sabiroglu in response to a question of APA told that the public is informed about the investigation process in the case of the death of a soldier Jeyhun Gubadov:

“Of course, this is a very heavy loss. This is noted in a joint statement with the Republican Military Prosecutor’s Office. But, what can we do, sometimes it is impossible to avoid such severe cases. Azerbaijani Defense Ministry expresses deep regret to deceased soldier ’s family and friends”

E. Sabiroglu said that in connection with the case of death immediately launched an investigation in the unit where the deceased soldier served, by relevant structures of the Defense Ministry. “The Republican Military Prosecutor’s Office, in turn, on the death of a criminal case, launched an investigation. To fully clarify the situation which led to the death, the Ministry together with the Military Prosecutor’s Office continues to investigate fully. The public will be informed of the outcome”.

The spokesman said that the fact about beating of soldier is seriously investigating “The leadership of the Ministry pays special attention to this issue. Let there be no doubt that the guilty people will be punished. We realize the sensitive attitude of public attention to the death of a young Jeyhun and treat it with understanding. We do not intend to looking there any other colors.”

Sabiroglu said that during the investigation carried out in connection with the death of Jeyhun Gubadov revealed some cases of misconduct in the unit: “The appropriate order of the Minister of Defense several senior army officers Shamkir connections for mistakes and miscalculations, wrong organization of control over personnel, strictly disciplined.”

The spokesman added that according to the orders of the Minister responsible officers punished by a severe reprimand to demotion: “At the same time, some of the officers were relieved of their posts. If during the investigations detect other guilty people, they will also be punished.”

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BRIEF: Senior employees of Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and Military Prosecutor’s Office seconded to investigate soldier ‘s death
Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan ) – Friday, January 11, 2013
Author: E. Mehdiyev, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
Jan. 11–The Azerbaijani Military Prosecutor’s Office opened a criminal case under article 342.2 (negligence in service leading to grave consequences) of the Criminal Code in connection with the soldier ‘s death in a military unit in Dashkesan region.

A joint statement of the Defense Ministry and the Military Prosecutor’s Office was made on Thursday on the death of Jeyhun Gubadov who was called up for military service in a unit in the Dashkesen region of Azerbaijan .

The investigation of the soldier ‘s death is being led under special controls.

Because of the special circumstances, senior Defense Ministry officials and the Military Prosecutor’s Office are the ones being seconded to conduct the investigation.

Investigative groups on this case will provide a full and comprehensive investigation with institutional criminal proceedings against those responsible; they will update the public as soon as developments unfold.

Born in 1994, Jeyhun Gubadov was called up for military service in the Absheron region. A few days ago, he died in in Dashkesan.

The mass media released photos of the soldier ‘s corpse with visible bodily injuries.

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BRIEF: Source: Two individuals detained upon case on Azerbaijani soldier ‘s death
Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan ) – Friday, January 11, 2013
Author: M. Aliyev, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
Jan. 11–The details were added (the first version was posted at 14:26)

An officer and a soldier have been detained within a criminal case filed upon the death of Azerbaijani soldier Jeyhun Gumbadov, a source in law enforcement bodies told Trend today.

The source has not disclosed the names of detainees.

Born in 1994, Jeyhun Gubadov was called up for military service in the Absheron region. A few days ago, he died in in Dashkesan.

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Ruling party: Causes of soldier Jeyhun Gubadov’s death will be investigated
Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan ) – Friday, January 11, 2013
Author: E. Mehdiyev, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
Jan. 11–The ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) has expressed its position regarding the death of soldier Jeyhun Gubadov in Dashkasan.

” Soldiers are our sons, and caring for the army and the soldiers who serve in it is in the centre of the President’s attention. However, unfortunately, we sometimes encounter such tragedies.”, Deputy Executive Secretary of the NAP, MP Mubariz Gurbanli told Trend.

He said the soldier ‘s death is a loss for Azerbaijan and for all of us.

“We are very saddened by this”, Gurbanli said.

He said a delegation of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party visited the family of the deceased soldier and took part in a ceremony of remembrance.

Representatives of the Absheron district administration as well as representatives of the NAP’s youth association participated in the ceremony and expressed their condolences.

Other senior representatives of the NAP visited the soldier ‘s family and expressed their sympathy, noting that the accident will be investigated.

Born in 1994, Jeyhun Gubadov was called up for military service in the Absheron region. A few days ago, he died in Dashkesan.

The mass media released photos of the soldier ‘s corpse with visible bodily injuries.

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Azerbaijani youth organizations against politicization of soldier ‘s death
Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan ) – Friday, January 11, 2013
Author: E. Mehdiyev, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
Jan. 11–Azerbaijani youth organizations condemn the death of a soldier Jeyhun Gubadov, but deprecate politicization of the issue.

Chairman of the Youth Association of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party Seymur Orujov finds politicization of this issue improper.

“The deceased soldier is our brother. Investigations into his death are underway, and the information will be provided upon completion of this process.. We have no doubt about the objectivity of the investigation,” Orujov told Trend.

According to him, such incidents must not be used in political interests of the various forces.

“We sympathize with the family of the deceased, and we have no doubt concerning objective character of investigations,” Orujov said.

Chairman of the Student Youth Organizations’ Union Shahin Ismayilov also noted the inadmissibility of politicization of the issue.

“The Azerbaijani people have a particular trait: concepts such as homeland, the land and the army are sacred to them. One can not use this issue for political purposes,” Ismailov said.

According to him, the case should be investigated, and the investigation is to give an objective assessment of what happened.

The death of the soldier can’t be used by anyone in his own purposes, Ismailov said.

Jeyhun Gubadov born in 1994 was called up for military service in the Absheron region. Few days ago, he died in a military unit located in Dashkesan area.

Some media released photos of the body of the deceased with visible injuries.

05 Jan

LibTech Talk

I’m giving a talk on January 10 at Stanford’s Program on Liberation Technology.

It is based loosely on my work with Sarah Kendzior and will focus on how the Azerbaijani government takes advantage of equivocation to portray itself as a place where Internet freedom exists.

The talk will be videoed, so I’ll put a link up when that’s ready.

28 Dec

Why the pardon?

Mixed reaction to Azeri leader’s pardon decree
BBC Monitoring International Reports – Friday, December 28, 2012
Azerbaijani human rights activists have displayed a mixed reaction to the 26 December pardoning decree of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The president pardoned 87 people, including two prisoners of conscience and 11 political prisoners according to the lists of local human rights activists and the report of Christoph Strasser, rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Turan reported on 26 December.

Leyla Yunus, director of the Institute of Peace and Democracy, told Turan on 27 December that this happened in the lead to discussions during the PACE winter session of Strasser’s report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

“Now the authorities can say that steps have been taken to resolve the problem, although they deny the very existence of the problem of political prisoners,” Leyla Yunus said.

The human rights activist said that the problem remains unresolved and 54 political prisoners remain in jail. She pointed out that most of the pardoned political prisoners already did the vast majority of their sentences.

This is the first such decree that released as many as 14 political prisoners, Leyla Yunus added. “Nevertheless, it is a positive event that the Azerbaijani authorities released 14 political prisoners at once. This is without a precedent in Azerbaijan, because earlier not more than five or seven political prisoners were released,” the rights activist said.

Leyla Yunus added that there are also new alarming tendencies with unjustified delays in trials. The trial of human rights activist Baxtiyar Mammadov, who protected the rights of the residents whose houses were demolished near the State Flag Square, began in April, and the trial of the editor-in-chief of the Xural newspaper, Avaz Zeynalli, began in May.

Meanwhile, the monitoring group of the Azerbaijani human rights organizations said that the presidential decree is an important step towards resolving the issue of political prisoners, Turan reported in another report on 27 December.

“We believe that this will be duly assessed during the PACE January session, where two reports on Azerbaijan will be on the agenda,” Saida Qocamanli, head of the Bureau for Human Rights and Legal Compliance, told Turan. She pointed out that among those pardoned are 14 people named in Strasser’s report. Qocamanli also said that 18 political activists and journalists from Strasser’s report were released ahead of time earlier.

The list includes 85 people, but only 48 of them remain in jail. For some of them the trial has not been completed or they have yet to be tried, Turan reported.

“We very much hope that before Azerbaijan presides over the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in 2014 the problem of political prisoners will be closed,” Qocamanli said.

18 Dec

Will be at Stanford in January

I’ll be giving a talk at Stanford’s Liberation Technology Center in January.

Link here

Title:
Not Free to Be You and Me: Equivocation and Internet Freedom in Azerbaijan

Abstract:
Azerbaijan has a unique approach to Internet regulation that represents a ‘middle path’ between open access and censorship. Because the Internet is both unpredictable and a prime venue of unsanctioned content, it threatens what the Azerbaijani government values most: power through consistency, consistency through power.

There are three generations of Internet control that a government can use. The first generation is widespread filtering and direct censorship. Second generation controls manipulate regulations on acceptable content and change the “use of defamation, slander, and ‘veracity’ laws, to deter bloggers and independent media from posting material critical of the government or specific government officials, however benignly (including humor)”. The third generation competes with Internet freedom “through effective counter information campaigns that overwhelm, discredit or demoralize opponents”.

While Azerbaijan does little first generation control (although it has sporadically filtered opposition news sources, especially before elections), it instead discourages technology use in three ways: media framing (third generation), monitoring (third generation) and arrests (second and third generation). Together these have created psychological barriers that impacts Azerbaijani technology use.

Despite this, the Azerbaijani government repeatedly claims that “there is Internet freedom in Azerbaijan.” By electing to define Internet freedom in the strictest sense of the word, the government uses a semantic shift to deflect criticism.

A mixed-methods nationally representative study of Azerbaijani Internet use will demonstrate the detrimental effect Azerbaijani government efforts to dissuade Internet use has on Internet use and free expression.

17 Dec

This Week in Absurdistan.az…

Lots of attacks on the Freedom House report

Azerbaijani Council of State Support to NGOs disagrees with report of Freedom House
Azeri-Press News Agency ( Azerbaijan ) – Monday, December 17, 2012
The Council of State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan objected to the inclusion of Azerbaijan into the list of “non-free” countries by the Freedom House. The Council issued a statement saying that the Freedom House has once more demonstrated its commitment to double games of the Western circles: “Including Armenia, which is used as an instrument of aggression against regional states by some forces of the world, into the list of “partly free” countries the Freedom House demonstrates its purposes clearly.

The report covering absurd ideas on the freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, restriction of the use of Internet , arrest of bloggers, intolerance of the situation in prisons and tortures against prisoners in Azerbaijan made by the organization trying to create a negative image of our country in the world does not differ from the accusations of some pro-Armenian deputies having hostile approach to Azerbaijan . They continue to stand for their political and economic interests rather than human rights in Azerbaijan . Otherwise, attention would have been paid to the main problem of the country, occupation of 20 per cent of territories by Armenians and more than one million refugees.

http://en.trend.az/news/politics/2098585.html

Azerbaijani top official: Freedom House report is based on subjective judgments
Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan ) – Thursday, December 13, 2012
Author: E. Mehdiyev, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
Dec. 13–Head of Azerbaijani Presidential Administration’s Social and Political Department Ali Hasanov assessed annual report of Freedom House on the situation with human rights in the world as a report of the NGO prepared on the basis of subjective judgments.

If an independent country criterion for Freedom House is an observant position of law enforcement agencies towards attempts of a group of irresponsible persons to hold illegal protest actions in the city center and sow anarchy and chaos, while preventing such attempts brings down the country’s rating on freedom, then let the organization assess actions of the Central European countries’ law enforcement agencies against participants of such actions.

For us, preventing chaos and anarchy, attempts of those who lost the sense of responsibility, violating the internal stability, hindering normal activities of people and other illegal actions of such type is a requirement and observance of the legality. As for the impunity of “journalists” -who insult citizens, slander and are engaged in racketeering using their profession, and betray their people and the state, then it also does not coincide with the wishes of the Azerbaijani society now,” Hasanov told Trend on Thursday

Every Azerbaijani citizen regardless of his profession should realize responsibility for his actions and respect the rights and freedoms of others, Hasanov said.

“There is a balance of human rights in legal states. One person’s rights end where another person’s rights begin. This is the way we understand the balance of human rights in Azerbaijan “.

“As for opinions and views on other issues indicated in the report of the Freedom House- restriction of the freedom of journalists, threat to Internet freedom, harassment and arrest of bloggers, presence of intolerable situation in prisons, torture of prisoners and others, we believe that they are nothing more than the subjective opinions,” Hasanov said.

“These reports have been mainly based on the information of several NGOs’ reports, preparing false reports for them within the country and funded by some Westerns circles of anti-Azerbaijani nature,” he said. “They have nothing to do with Azerbaijan ‘s current situation.”

Hasanov also commented on the negative evaluation by Freedom House of some reconstruction and resettlement operations, conducted in accordance with the general project of Baku, and added that it is the same old story for Azerbaijan .

“Such accusations are based on the same lie and slander,” he said.

“Armenian lobby and some Western anti-Azerbaijani circles are involved in this campaign which started from the Eurovision Song contest,” he said.

“All reconstruction and improvement operations in Baku are conducted on the initiative of President Aliyev for the people, their well-being, the accomplishment and beauty of the city,” he said.

“This is done for expanding and reconstructing the domestic infrastructure, restoring the city’s harmony, which was broken earlier, comfortable living of hundred thousands of residents of cities and tens of thousands of residential areas, ensuring convenient movement in accordance with Baku’s general plan,” he said.

“But, unfortunately, one could not avoid resettlement of some families to other places during these operations,” Hasanov added.

“According to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s special order, the rights of people who have been resettled were fully ensured,” he said. “More suitable alternative variants and convenient housing or the relevant payments were proposed to them. These people agreed to this.”

“Of course, some people, who have been resettled, were dissatisfied because they did not want to leave the houses where they lived for many years, which is natural,” he said. “But there were few dissatisfied people as opposed to those satisfied and those who backed the future improvement of the conditions in these residential areas of Baku.”

“Tens of thousands of people have been resettled in Azerbaijan ,” he said. “Of course, one can find three — five dissatisfied people, so they would talk to the press and appear on television, which has been done.”

“How is it possible that the opinions of 3-4 individuals out of tens of thousands of displaced persons are re-published by some Western circles, Western press, and Freedom House includes this in its report? Wouldn’t it be better for them to consider the opinions of other displaced people, when preparing this kind of information? If to summarize the report of Freedom House, it does not differ from the reports prepared by a number of NGOs that they submit every year. Azerbaijan is not the only country mentioned there, as there are all post-Soviet countries included as well, in the majority of which, freedom and human rights are allegedly violated and restricted,” Hasanov said.

“The negative evaluation of the most post-Soviet countries indicates that the methodology and approach of the “Freedom House” are wrong,” he said. “The sources that it relies are making statements proceeding from their subjective positions. Most of these sources are NGOs funded by targeted funds and interested in forming a negative image of Azerbaijan .”

Prisoners to Skype? WHAT?

BRIEF: Prisoners in Azerbaijan may be able to use Skype to communicate with families
Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan ) – Monday, December 10, 2012
Author: K. Zarbaliyeva, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
Dec. 10–There is a possibility that in Azerbaijani prisons, communication between prisoners and their families through the Internet program Skype may soon be coming, but it is currently forbidden by law and accordingly can’t be used, head of the Prison Service Madat Guliyev told journalists.

He added that if legislation is amended, then there will be conditions allowing the use of Skype by prisoners.

Touching upon the smuggling of prohibited items into prisons, Guliyev said that 11 mobile phones were found today during an inspection of prison No. 2.

He added that unfortunately, in such cases, it is often found that relatives of the prisoner are involved.

And looks like Azerbaijan’s gonna get some fat pipe, but this remains to be seen

TAE fiber-optic line to be transferred to reserve for stability of Azerbaijani sector of Internet
Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan ) – Thursday, December 13, 2012
Author: H. Veliyev, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
Dec. 13–Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic cable backbone will be used as a reserve channel to stabilize the AzNET segment, a source close to the project told Trend on Wednesday.

It is facilitated by the upcoming plans of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan to implement a large-scale project for the development of broadband Internet in Azerbaijan in 2013, the main component of which is the expansion of broadband Internet coverage of rural areas, where the optical infrastructure is still underdeveloped.

“Laid optic lines of FO-20 standard have the potential not to cope with the greater bandwidth. Therefore, all the lines need to be replaced by cables of FO-48 standard. Regarding TAE, this project used cables of FO-12, FO -16, FO-20 and FO-24 standards. Therefore, the implementation of the project of development of broadband Internet contributes to the fact that TAE, used as a key line, will be transferred to the reserve,” the source said.

Today, over 35 percent of the villages of the country are covered by the optical links. Production Association Aztelekom Azerbaijan laid about two thousand kilometers of fiber-optic communication lines in the regions. Over 500 kilometers of cable were laid by the efforts of commercial providers.

Interfax: Investment in Azerbaijani hi-tech sector to 2020 may top $7 bln
Interfax News Agency (Moscow, Russia) – Friday, December 7, 2012
BAKU. Dec 7 (Interfax) – The government of Azerbaijan expects that investment in its hi-tech sector to 2020 could top $7 billion.

“The government will spend $3.6 billion to 2020 on the production hi-technology products and services. In addition, we expect the same amount of foreign direct investment. The European Union is one of our most reliable partners in this respect,” Communications and IT Minister Ali Abbasov said at a meeting with ambassadors of EU member states in Azerbaijan , a ministry press release says.

The minister told the diplomats about reforms in and the outlook for ICT. “Our main aim is to reduce to a minimum the dependence on the oil sector that the country’s economy has, and to achieve annual 20% growth in ICT in the next 10 years. Thanks to this, the volume of the ICT sector will grow four-fold by 2020,” the minister said.

To achieve the target aims the internet needs to be developed, he said. “We plan to achieve an 85% boost to broadband internet use in the next three years, while the minimum speed will be 10 megabits per second,” Abbasov said.

“The Azerbaijani government plans in the next few years to focus on an electronic government project. By 2020 around 80% of the country’s population will use electronic services,” he added.

In order to develop the ICT sector, Azerbaijan plans to increase competitiveness and ease customs and tax policy, the minister said.

BRIEF: Next phase of Azerbaijan ‘s broadband internet development to be completed by 2016
Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan ) – Friday, December 7, 2012
Author: H. Valiyev, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
Dec. 07–Aztelekom production association has laid around 2,000 kilometers of fiber-optic communication lines in Azerbaijan for its broadband internet project, Aztelekom CEO Magomed Mammadov said at a press-conference on Thursday.

According to Mammadov, more than 500 kilometers of cable were laid with the assistance of commercial providers.

“At present, the work on laying optical infrastructure is carried out in almost all regions of the country. Extending optical infrastructure will increase the number of broadband internet users,” Mammadov said.

According to him, at present, the number of broadband connections in the Aztelekom network reaches 102,000, while at the beginning of this year the figure stood at about 25,000.

“Aztelekom has developed the next stage (2013-2015) of the project, during which optic fiber will be brought to the end user,” Mammadov said.

BRIEF: Azerbaijan to be fully covered by broadband Internet by 2015
Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan ) – Thursday, December 6, 2012
Author: H. Valiyev, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
Dec. 06–The volume of investments in the development of the Aztelekom production association’s network as of 2012 is expected to hit 25-30 million manat, Aztelekom director general Magomed Mammadov told media today.

“The volume of investments in the development of the state operator’s network has hit about 20 million manat for nine months,” he said. “Investments are made through internal funds.”

Currently, the main challenge for Aztelekom is to increase the number of broadband Internet users.

Mammadov said it is planned to allocate more than 200 million manat to implement the project of developing broadband Internet in the regions in 2013. The project will be financed by the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan .

“By 2015, all the Azerbaijani territory will be covered by broadband Internet and the minimum Internet speed will be 10 Mbits / s,” he said. “Operations have been prepared to prepare the documents to develop broadband Internet .”