The ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) of President Ilham Aliyev retained its dominant place in Parliament in a snap parliamentary election held on 1 September. YAP retained 68 of 125 seats, with the remainder going to loyal independent MPs or allied parties. The nominally opposition Republican Alternative Party retained its one seat in Parliament. The election was, like previous elections, boycotted by most opposition parties was and neither free nor fair. The election observation mission from the OSCE concluded the election was conducted “against the background of continued repression” and observed “serious irregularities” including 26 cases of ballot box stuffing. Official voting age population turnout was 63.52 per cent, up from 33.58 per cent in 2020, but official data on voter registration and population is of low credibility. The number of women in parliament increased to 26 from 21. 

Sources: Eurasianet, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Republic of Azerbaijan Central Election Commission, IPU Parline 

Human rights groups say that in recent months, Azerbaijan has launched the most thorough crackdown on civil society in a decade, in the run up to the 1 September parliamentary election and to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November. Activists and journalists have been detained on charges ranging from international currency smuggling to treason, including six journalists from the independent Abzas Media, election observation and rights activist Anar Mammadli, and Bahruz Samadov, a doctoral student at the Charles University in Czechia. The crackdown focuses on media and activists as previous waves of repression have largely eliminated organised independent civil society organisations. Even public figures who were long able to live in the country while criticizing the government, like Altay Goyushov, head of a prominent local non-profit think tank, have proactively left the country to avoid potential imprisonment. Azerbaijani human rights activists now count over 300 political prisoners for the first time since the early 2000s.

Sources: Amnesty International, International Federation of Journalists, Human Rights House, The Economist, Turan News Agency, International IDEA

Snap presidential elections returned the usual results of a landslide win for President Ilham Aliyev on 7 February. The campaign was marked by a lack of voter engagement, even by Azerbaijani standards, documented ballot stuffing and other election-day irregularities, and token opposition candidates that publicly encouraged voters to choose Aliyev. President Aliyev did not himself campaign or take part in televised debates, and real opposition parties boycotted as usual but, in a novel development, were either unwilling or unable to mobilize public rallies or shows of discontent, as had typically been the case in previous elections.

Sources: OSCE, OC Media, Eurasianet

Azerbaijan held snap presidential elections on 7 February in which President Ilham Aliyev was elected to a fifth term in office. Aliyev, who took office in 2003, received 92.12 per cent of the vote with 76 per cent voter turnout, although neither number could be independently verified. No women were among the registered candidates. The European Parliament declined to observe or comment on the elections. The OSCE election observation mission said the election “took place in a restrictive environment, and while preparations were efficiently managed, it was marked by the stifling of critical voices and the absence of political alternatives.”

Sources: OC Media, Turan News Agency, David McAllister MEP

The Azerbaijani delegation withdrew from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on 24 January, leaving the country a member of the international rights body but without representation in its assembly. The withdrawal was announced several hours before PACE held a vote expelling the delegation for Azerbaijan’s failure to meet its commitments to hold free and fair elections, respect human rights, and other democratic principles. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on 1 February the country would pull out of the Council and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) if its voting rights were not reinstated. With Azerbaijan’s justice system considered neither impartial nor independent of the executive, applications to the ECtHR are essentially the only recourse for justice or redress in the country. Azerbaijan would be the third country to withdraw CoE since its founding in 1949 (Greece’s withdrew in 1969 but returned in 1974, and Russia withdrew in March 2022).

Sources: Eurasianet, Office of the President of Azerbaijan 

On 7 December, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree to hold snap elections in February 2024, a year ahead of schedule. No reason was given for the early elections, and no Azerbaijani election during Aliyev’s twenty years in power has been free or fair. Prominent opposition politician Tofig Yaqublu was arrested on fraud charges shortly after the announcement and faces seven to twelve years of imprisonment, which supporters argue to be a tool to keep him imprisoned during the election campaign. The country’s main opposition parties announced plans to boycott the election, citing the lack of a fair and equal playing field.

Sources: Eurasianet (1), Eurasianet (2), OC Media

Azerbaijani police arrested seven journalists in late November and early December, prompting outcries from international rights watchdogs and media about the worst crackdown on media freedom in years. Five journalists from the investigative media outlet Abzas Media are being held in pre-trial detention on charges of smuggling foreign currency into the country. The police claim to have found 40,000 USD in cash in Abzas Media’s offices during a raid on 20 November, and pro-government media have repeatedly accused the arrested of being spies of the United States government without providing evidence. Abzas Media and experts say the charges are retaliation for the outlet’s investigations into corruption and public officials. The founders of the online television channels Kanal 11 and Kanal 13 have also been arrested on unrelated charges that observers consider trumped-up.

Sources: Eurasianet, OC Media (1), OC Media (2), Committee to Protect Journalists

A military court convicted Vagif Khachatryan, 68, to 15 years in prison on charges of genocide on 7 November, for what prosecutors said was his involvement in a massacre during the First Karabakh War in 1991. Khachatryan was detained by Azerbaijani border guards when being transferred by the International Committee of the Red Cross from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia for surgery in July 2023. Khachatryan and Armenian authorities denied and condemned the charges. Eight senior leaders of the former Nagorno Karabakh Republic are also being held in Azerbaijan facing similar serious charges. Observers have pointed out that the prosecutions, which appear to have popular support in Azerbaijan, run contrary to the country’s official policy of building peace and integrating Karabakh Armenians into Azerbaijani society.

Sources: Eurasianet, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Following a major Azerbaijani military offensive from 19 to 20 September, the self-declared Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh surrendered, and announced its dissolution would be effective on 1 January 2024. By the end of September, essentially the entire population of circa 100,000 ethnic Armenians had fled to neighbouring Armenia. While Azerbaijani officials have insisted the exodus was voluntary and that it intended to reintegrate the Karabakhi Armenian population into Azerbaijan, local researchers pointed out its lack of de jure and de facto compliance with international minority rights standards, and international rights experts like former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo and politicians, including the European Parliament have accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing. Despite ongoing diplomatic talks between the two sides aimed at securing peace and protecting the rights of an Armenian minority in Azerbaijan, the government has begun arresting high-ranking current and former elected Karabakhi Armenian officials and announcing plans to try them on unspecified charges.

Sources: Eurasianet, Baku Research Institute, OC Media (1), OC Media (2)

On 9 September, the Ministry of Justice granted the three major opposition parties (Republican Alternative, Musavat, and Popular Front) registration, only two months after announcing all three had been denied and faced dissolution. No explanation for the reversal was given, with observers suggesting the parties were put through a charade with the intent of humiliating and discrediting them in the eyes of the public. Pressure on smaller independent political movements has not ceased, as the Democracy 1918 movement announced that it would disband on 10 September, and academic and prominent critic Gubad Ibadoghlu has remained under arrest since July on religious extremism charges the European Parliament and international rights watchdogs have condemned as politically motivated.

Sources: Eurasianet, OC Media, European Parliament

Former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo published a report arguing the ongoing Azerbaijani blockade of the disputed majority Armenian territory of Nagorno-Karabakh should be considered genocide on 7 August. On 15 August, the Nagorno Karabakh Human Rights Defender’s Office said a man had starved to death, marking the first death as a result of the months-long blockade which has prevented food, medicine, fuel, and electricity from reaching the region. A UN Security council meeting on the crisis on 16 August failed to result in a statement, as Azerbaijan’s close ally and non-permanent member Turkiye disputed Armenia’s claims and defended Azerbaijan’s justification to blockade the region.

Sources: Associated Press, OC Media, Eurasianet, United Nations

Azerbaijani authorities have cracked down on a new generation of labour unionists who had been organising and campaigning for the right of food delivery gig workers, in what critics suggest is an attempt to maintain centralized political and economic power in the hands of the ruling elite. In August, three high-profile activists were arrested and another announced his withdrawal from union activity on Instagram, citing police pressure. The charges range from disobeying police orders to large-scale drug trafficking, and all organizers say the charges are fabricated and politically motivated. The authorities’ main target is the umbrella labour organization Workers’ Table, which represents 2,500 food delivery workers. On 14 August the Food Safety Agency also revoked the license of Wolt, a major player in the food delivery industry, on spurious grounds, raising speculation that a government-connected food delivery company would soon be launched.

Sources: Eurasianet, Voice of America, JAM News

Six former journalists at Azadliq Radiosu, the Azerbaijani service of the United States-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) have alleged they were fired or forced out of the broadcaster and accused management of self-dealing and financial mismanagement. The journalists have been widely supported by independent Azerbaijan media figures and civil society, who support their claim that Azadliq Radiosu has simultaneously shifted to government-friendly content and abandoned the investigations into powerful figures on which it built its reputation in the country. RFE/RL has declined to comment on media reports, only citing an unpublished internal report which it says found its coverage to be “accurate, independent and responsible.” 

Sources: openDemocracy, OC Media 

A peaceful protest by villagers from Soyudlu in north-central Azerbaijan against the expansion of a local mining project, which villagers complained for years had severely damaged local water supplies, was met with overwhelming force by armed riot police on 20 June. Videos spread across the internet and prompted intense media coverage and interest from domestic and international rights advocates. Journalists and lawyers who travelled to Soyudlu were detained, interrogated, and allegedly assaulted by police. In a rare move, President Ilham Aliyev expressed his sympathy with the villagers at a 11 July cabinet meeting and called the local environmental situation “utterly unacceptable”, blaming the local mining company and the environmental ministry. However, Aliyev also praised the police’s conduct, and the town remains largely cut off from the outside world by a police cordon and local residents report a heavy police presence inside the town.

Sources: Eurasianet, International Partnership for Human Rights, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Meydan TV, Abzas Media (Facebook), Azadliq Radiosu

Government pressure on the Armenian population in Nagorno-Karabakh escalated further in July and has led to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the enclave, with the government once again closing the only road connecting the region to the outside world to International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) humanitarian convoys on 11 July. The ICRC then ceased medical evacuation on 29 July after Azerbaijani border guards arrested Vagif Khachatryan, a 68-year-old patient in critical condition who the ICRC was evacuating to Armenia for medical care. Azerbaijani prosecutors say Khachatryan will stand trial on charges of “genocide” carried out during the First Karabakh War, but the only evidence to support the charges appears to be Khachatryan’s military service. As all Karabakh Armenian men either fought in a war or performed mandatory military service, analysts say that it is unsafe for any men to attempt to leave the blockaded region.

Sources: Radio Azatutyun, Eurasianet, Eurasianet

Azerbaijan’s three major opposition parties face immediate deregistration and dissolution, as each party learned in July its application to comply with a registration law instituted in January 2023 had been denied. Republican Alternative (ReAl), the only opposition party with a seat in parliament, was notified by the Ministry of Justice it would be deregistered on 17 July for inconsistencies in the personal details of its list of members. Musavat and the Popular Front Party (AXCP) received similar notices on 19 July. Although the parties had found little success in Azerbaijan’s stage-managed elections in recent years, both the AXCP and Musavat have maintained national organizational structures and frequently organized large-scale protests and marches.

Source: Eurasianet, European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), Turan.az