· July, 2009

Stories about Azerbaijan from July, 2009

Azerbaijan: Watermelon season

  30 July 2009

Sheki, Azerbaijan says that watermelon season has started in the country, posting photographs and detailing some of the traditions associated with the summer fruit.

Armenia-Azerbaijan: Musical collaboration

  28 July 2009

Despite the unresolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh which has left many citizens of both countries intolerant and bitterly opposed to the other, a Baku-based newspaper has discovered a video on YouTube of an Azeri girl singing traditional mugham backed by Armenian musicians. Remy_G tweets that the...

Azerbaijan: Smashing idealism

  27 July 2009

Thoughts on the Road comments on the English translation of an interview with the official investigator on the case of recently detained video bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli posted on the OL! blog. The blogger says that he still considers the case against the two youth activists to be...

Azerbaijan: Fighting mirrors

  24 July 2009

Fighting windmills? Take a pill. recounts various events that have happened to Azerbaijan's youth movements in the past few months, including the detention of dozens of activists. The blog says that tomorrow a new initiative will be established to protect their rights.

Azerbaijan: An interview with Arzu Geybullayeva

  22 July 2009

Despite the accent formed from education in the United States and the United Kingdom, Arzu Geybullayeva, now a regional analyst, has become one of Azerbaijan's most well-known bloggers on the country with her Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines blog.

Azerbaijan: Adnan Hajizade, Emin Milli appeal rejected

  22 July 2009

Despite significant outcry from leading human rights groups, press freedom watchdogs, and the international community itself, two youth activists and bloggers have been sentenced to two months pre-trial detention. Their appeal, originally planned for last week, was eventually heard on Monday, but few expected them to be released.

Azerbaijan: Activists’ support site goes down

  19 July 2009

Yesterday, as Önər Blog [AZ] reported, the Appellate Court in Baku was to consider again the case of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade, the recently beaten and detained youth activists and bloggers sentenced last week. Yesterday, however, one of the main websites created in their defense went down.

Azerbaijan: Overzealous minions?

  18 July 2009

Following the recent detention of online activists and bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli in Azerbaijan, Business Week and former New York Times journalist Steve LeVine comments on the case on The Oil and the Glory, wondering if the arrest wasn't simply a case of an overzealous police official trying...

Azerbaijan: Social Networks and Youth Activism

  14 July 2009

Writing on Quirk Global Strategies, the former Country Director of the National Democratic Institute in Azerbaijan comments on the use of social networking sites such as Facebook by supporters of recently imprisoned video blogger Adnan Hadjizadeh and youth activist Emin Milli. The blog criticizes them for the tactic employed with...

Armenia: Flag display

517 Design [RU] posts a photograph of a billboard made up of the flags of those countries which will be entering films into the Golden Apricot festival in Yerevan. The blog notes the inclusion of flags from Azerbaijan and Turkey, countries with no formal diplomatic relations with Armenia because of...

Azerbaijan: “Hooliganism”

  13 July 2009

A Fistful of Euros comments on the arrest of Emin Milli and video blogger Adnan Hajizade last week in Baku, Azerbaijan. The blog says that charges of “hooliganism” are a Soviet-era tactic used by authoritarian regimes to silence dissent and have no place in a country seeking closer ties with...

Azerbaijan: Last tweet before arrest

  13 July 2009

Emin Milli, one of two youth and civil society activists severly beaten and jailed for two months for hooliganism in Baku last week, sent a tweet back on 24th June. Not only was it the last before his arrest, but it was also particularly poignant.

Azerbaijan: Citizen media in defense of detained activists, bloggers

  13 July 2009

Although most activity can be found on Facebook where users continue to update each other on the case of video blogger Adnan Hajizade and youth activist Emin Milli, detained last week and sentenced to two months pre-trial detention, less activity might be visible in the mainstream media, but the situation is changing. Nevertheless, citizen media remains the main source of information.

Azerbaijan: An Interview with Scary Azeri

  10 July 2009

Unashamedly acerbic, but alway humorous, Scary Azeri in Suburbs has fast become popular with many interested in the South Caucasus and posts have even been republished by the media in her native Azerbaijan. Today, Global Voices Online interviewed Scary Azeri about blogging, tweeting, cultural clashes, trolls and more.

Azerbaijan: Youth activist, blogger detention updates

  9 July 2009

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines says that she woke up to the news of the detention of two youth activists in Baku, Azerbaijan, this morning despite eye witness accounts that it was they who were the the victims of an assault. The blog says that it will keep its readers...

Azerbaijan: Youth activists and bloggers beaten and detained

  8 July 2009

Emin Milli, one of the founders of AN Network, a grassroots youth movement and Adnan Hadji-zadeh, a videoblogger from OL! Youth Movement have been severely beaten by unidentified persons while dining with a group of other civil society and youth activists in a restaurant in downtown Baku.