Against the background of the declarations of peace from Baku, the activists opposing the war in Azerbaijan are facing criminal prosecutions and heavy accusations. The young scientist Bahruz Samadov, who is known for his pacifist appeals and criticized Azerbaijan’s military machine on various Western platforms, was detained last month for a preliminary period of four months on charges of spying for Armenians. If found guilty, the 29-year-old activist faces life imprisonment.
Another group of Azerbaijani activists who publicly condemn the war against neighboring Armenia have the status of witnesses, they have been banned from leaving the country. Another young scientist, ethnographer Igbal Abilov, is also under arrest on charges of espionage and treason for Armenians.
Azerbaijani exiled journalist Arzu Geybula states in a conversation with the BBC that the new wave of arrests is unprecedented, this time the target is anti-war activists, moreover, they are being persecuted at a time when Aliyev’s government is hosting a prestigious UN peace event on climate issues. messages, negotiating peace with neighboring Armenia, assuring that the goal is to conclude a peace deal before the day.
“It is very troubling to see that the prosecution of anti-war activists is gaining momentum at a time when Armenia and Azerbaijan are discussing a peace agreement to finalize it,” Geibula said.
According to Lawrence Broers, a British analyst and well-known expert on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, Aliyev’s actions against Samadov and other activists opposing the war are trying to say that talks about peace should only come from the top, from the lips of officials, and other uncontrolled voices are unnecessary.
“For the external audience, the messages are that the parties are closer to peace than ever, while the internal audience is presented with something completely different: the enemy is still at our door, and the society must unite around this conflict. All this has a very contradictory connotation: one audience is told that the conflict is in the past, the other is not, the conflict is not over, and people can be arrested and convicted for contacts with Armenians,” Broers emphasizes.
The arrest of Bahruz Samadov, the most famous opponent of Aliyev’s military campaigns, which has raised concerns from Brussels to Washington, is also widely covered by the Azerbaijani official media. “Baku TV”, referring to the investigators investigating the case, claims that the graduate student of Prague’s Charles University passed confidential information to the special services of Armenia. The media portrays a number of Armenian users of social networks, including international scholar Irina Safaryan from Artsakh, as a secret agent, and states without solid evidence that Samadov, who lives in Prague, collected information about the construction works being carried out there by the latter’s instructions.
According to Safaryan, that story is completely fabricated, at the same time, he confirms that he is familiar with Samadov due to his academic activities.
A former citizen of Artsakh, to whom Aliyev promised integration, even though he refused, asks if Baku would provide such a peaceful coexistence. “Not only the free-minded, intelligent intelligentsia living in Azerbaijan should draw conclusions from this, but also the RA authorities, the actors in the West, who talk about establishing peace from all sides, but see the opposite process,” emphasizes Irina Safaryan. :
Even after the 44-day war, the occupation of the sovereign territories of Armenia, the 9-month blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, the subsequent military attack and the forced deportation of Armenians, Baku continues to claim that it is the architect of peace in the region. The conflicting parties have been negotiating over the document presented by the government of Azerbaijan for almost two years, and have been regularly talking about progress in recent months. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced last week that the parties have already agreed on most of the points of the document.
Bahruz Samadov, who is accused of espionage and treason, publicly questioned Baku’s assurances and pointed out the steps that contradict the peace, from the non-stop demands directed at Yerevan to the never-ending Armenian hatred in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani Samadov was a supporter of real peace, and by arresting him, Baku is sabotaging the reconciliation process, says international relations and security specialist Sosi Tatikyan, who is familiar with the activities of the Azerbaijani activist.
