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OC Media

Opinion | Ilham Aliyev’s anti-Europe speech foreshadows big changes in Azerbaijan

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Bahruz Samadov is an activist at the Azer­bai­jani Nida Civil Movement and a PhD candidate at Charles Uni­ver­si­ty in Prague.

A recent speech by Azer­bai­jani President Ilham Aliyev shows a shift towards a new anti-European con­ser­vatism and an attempt to cultivate a new base amongst Azer­bai­jani youth against the back­ground of dwindling popular support and an ide­o­log­i­cal vacuum.  [Read more…]

Opinion | The killing of women in Azerbaijan is a product of our society 

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After a spate of recent killings of women by their spouses and ex-spouses, women in Azer­bai­jan are increas­ing­ly demanding change. But leg­is­la­tion alone is not enough; to tackle the scourge of domestic violence we need to go to the root of the problem — the societal norms under­pin­ning the violence. [Read more…]

Azerbaijan to dissolve parliament and hold snap elections 

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The Par­lia­ment of Azer­bai­jan.

Following a meeting of the ruling New Azer­bai­jan Party’s Political Council, the ruling party has announced plans to dissolve Par­lia­ment and prepare for snap elections. Some have spec­u­lat­ed that the move is meant to strength­en the position of President Ilham Aliyev’s wife, Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva. [Read more…]

Azerbaijani opposition cancel rally fearing ‘government provocations’

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Police officers blocking a street during 19 October's oppo­si­tion protest. Photo: Nurlan Gakhra­man­li

Azer­bai­jani oppo­si­tion parties have cancelled a rally planned for 2 November saying they fear the gov­ern­ment would have used ‘strong provo­ca­tions’ to disrupt and discredit it. In the days running up to the protest, the gov­ern­ment has report­ed­ly used several methods to apply pressure to prevent it.  

[Read more…]

Azerbaijani queer sex workers ‘offered money to hold anti-opposition rally’

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LGBT Azerbaijan rainbow flag

Photo: Minority Azer­bai­jan.

Two Azer­bai­jani queer rights groups have reported that several queer sex workers were called to police stations in Baku where they were offered money to hold an anti-oppo­si­tion rally in support of the police. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azer­bai­jan has called the alle­ga­tions ‘absurd’. [Read more…]

Anti–domestic violence march goes ahead in Baku despite attempts by police to disperse it

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Women marching through Baku's central Nizami Street. Photo: Veli Shukurov.

Activists in Azer­bai­jan held a protest against domestic violence on Sunday despite attempts by the police to break it up. Police arrested several of the pro­test­ers, who were pre­dom­i­nant­ly women, with activists accusing them of using excessive force. [Read more…]

Hundreds arrested including opposition leader at Azerbaijani anti-government protest

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Police officers detaining a person at Saturday's protest. Photo: Meydan TV.

Hundreds of people were arrested on Saturday in Baku during a protest organised by oppo­si­tion coalition the National Council of Demo­c­ra­t­ic Forces. A number of jour­nal­ists and oppo­si­tion activists were among those detained, including the Popular Front Party leader Ali Karimli.  [Read more…]

Georgia scores worst in South Caucasus in Global Hunger Index

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(Mari Nikuradze / OC Media)

Georgia has scored worst among the countries of the South Caucasus in the 2019 Global Hunger Index (GHI). Despite its score worsening slightly since the previous edition in 2010, Georgia remained in the ‘low’ hunger levels category, along with Armenia and Azer­bai­jan. [Read more…]

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