Azerbaijani Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva, wife of President Ilham Aliyev, has insulted journalist Emin Huseynov at the Munich Security Conference. Huseynov claims that Aliyev’s security detail has also prevented him from asking the president questions during the conference.
The Aliyevs took part in the conference, held from 13–15 February.
On 14 February, Huseynov, who lives in exile in Switzerland, tried several times to ask Aliyev a number of questions outside the conference hall. The Azerbaijani president answered questions from pro-government journalists, but ignored him.
Huseynov claims that Aliyev’s security detail appeared to recognise him, and did not allow him to remain with other journalists. He was forcibly pushed back several times, but still tried to ask Aliyev about his crackdown on political opponents in Azerbaijan. Huseynov also asked Aliyev to answer questions from independent media.
In the video, Aliyev is seen turning to Huseynov and saying: ‘there is no independent media in the world’.
Huseynov claimed that Aliyev’s bodyguards did not allow him to leave until the president’s departure.
Huseynov shared a separate video on 15 February showing his interaction with Aliyeva as she was leaving the conference hall. In the video, Huseynov asks Aliyeva about the political situation in Azerbaijan. She stops, and asks Huseynov to identify himself. After he does, she insults Huseynov, saying that he had hid in the Swiss Embassy in Baku dressed as a woman.
‘I wish you good health’, Aliyeva says before leaving.
Asylum in Switzerland
Prior to seeking asylum in Switzerland, Huseynov chaired the independent organisation Institute of the Freedom and Safety Journalists (IRFS) between 2006–2014.
The IRSF’s office was raided by Azerbaijani police in August 2014. At that time Huseynov tried to leave Azerbaijan for Turkey for health issues, but was informed at the airport that he was under a travel ban.
Following the incident at the airport, he sued the State Border Service. He was summoned for questioning on 7 August by the Prosecutor General’s Office, after which he hid in various places in Baku for fear of getting arrested.
At the time, several human rights activists, including Rasul Jafarov and Leyla and Arif Yunus, were detained amidst a crackdown on civil society.
He sought asylum at the Swiss Embassy on 18 August. He had dyed his hair and beard and wore coloured contacts to avoid identification by police officers surrounding the embassy.
Huseynov lived at the embassy for around 10 months before being relocated to Geneva after Azerbaijan and Switzerland reached an agreement on his status.
The brief exchange between Huseynov and Aliyeva sparked debate on social media, with pro-government media outlets, including Qafqazinfo, sharing AI-generated photos of Huseynov in a dress at the Swiss Embassy.
Elbayi Hasanli, an Azerbaijani journalist who also resides in Switzerland, has suggested that Aliyeva’s insult was an indirect response to a video made by the journalist’s brother, Mehman Huseynov, a well-known Azerbaijani blogger, in which he criticised the authorities for allowing Alyona Aliyeva, the Aliyev’s daughter-in-law, vote in the September 2024 parliamentary elections despite reportedly not being an Azerbaijani citizen.
In the video, Mehman Huseynov suggested that Alyona Aliyeva, who married Heydar Aliyev Jr. in November 2022, could not have been an Azerbaijani citizen at the time of the elections, as according to Azerbaijani law, a prerequisite for citizenship is residence in the country for at least five years. The blogger also presented bank receipts he purported were Alyona Aliyeva’s, showing money she had transferred as a Ukrainian national.
