For the narrowheaded apologists of Aliyev

I wrote this in the comments section of my blog, but then decided to also share it in a separate post. 

This was my response to a group of dedicated "trolls" who were protecting the two journalists (because obviously they can't stand their ground alone and need protection from those alike) and their absurd comments they made at a session during a side event in Riga for the World Press Freedom Day 2015. 

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Dear Ismayil, Anonymous x3, Aygun and Elmar,  

I want to address you all who are doing nothing from where you are sitting; who are turning their eyes away from the dire situation Azerbaijani people live in; who rather listen to the lies of President Aliyev and his cabinet; who have little respect, interest or care for those people who are locked up behind bars. You have chosen the easiest path - to remain silent, blind, and deaf. Your problem is (depending whether you are a real person or a troll) you have no respect for your country.
[...]
How can you so blindly refuse to see the reality? Perhaps you are of privileged kind - the ones who can afford the expensive life in Azerbaijan but snap out of it for a second and look around you. Visit a remote village in Azerbaijan. Do you actually know that there is no sewage system in many parts of our country? That there are electricity shortages? That there is still no heating despite our so-called "gas wealth"?

Have you visited a village school in the past year? Have you seen the dire conditions our children have to go to school everyday?

And these are just the basics!

You obviously have no interest in the future our generations because you have everything provided for yourself but what about millions of others?

Do you realize that out of 9.3 million of Azerbaijan population about 2million live and work in Russia? Do you know why they do that? You think its because of their love for Russia? No, its because President Aliyev doesn't give a shit about the well being of these people. If he was so democratic and caring as you make him to be then this would be visible in all levels of our society.

How can you reject the fact that we have so many pensioners across the country who are barely surviving?

How can you reject the fact that we have so many families struggling to make ends meet every day across Azerbaijan?

Baku isn't Azerbaijan. Those fancy, multi million/billion developments don't make lives of millions of other Azerbaijanis any easier, any better or any prettier.
[...]

And all of this, the best "they" could come up with was the following: 

No further comments...

I will show you...

I think this image sums it pretty well how the authorities in Azerbaijan are responding to all of the local as well as international human rights defenders, journalists, and others who care about the deteriorating situation in Azerbaijan. And they do this openly, without any hesitation.

I consider myself lucky- I never suffered from the post-Azerbaijani-education-system-stress-disorder!

I consider myself lucky. Why?! Well, because I didn't have to suffer from post-Azerbaijani- universities- stress- disorder and the country's long outdated education system. I consider myself lucky, because I took my exams, I got good grades, I never had to pay a penny. I consider myself lucky, I had a parent who too was a professor but who never took a bribe. And I am proud I am his daughter. I cannot even imagine how children of school teachers and university professors feel when they carry the heavy burden over their shoulders of parents who take money every day (that is if they care of course). I consider myself lucky, I never had to endure the unwillingness and disinterest of people who supposedly become teachers because they want to teach (not sure what is there to teach but a bad lesson over and over, every day. Yes, well done, one thing our students learn is currency conversions while the rest of important life equations remain on the pages of books that no one even reads these days). I consider myself lucky, because hearing horrid stories from my friends and cousins who were studying back home, reminded me of how privileged I was for having the chance of actually learning something new every day. 

I consider myself lucky, I was allowed to think, to analyze, to create, to procrastinate when I was at the school. My time was spent in libraries, talking to professors, discussing new opportunities and most importantly being encouraged. Encouraged to read more, to ask challenging questions, to write critical and alternative papers. 

Azerbaijan's corrupted education system is not a surprise. The fact that students are obliged (yes! obliged) to pay bribes to pass exams isn't big news (otherwise, not paying a bribe requires painful fights and lower grades). We all know, in Azerbaijan anything is possible, including a pre-paid diploma. And while many students complain about this, nothing seem to change. Education establishments remain indifferent- because everyone is happy to make an extra penny, even if its at the expense of poor parents who are barely surviving, let alone need to cover the bribes of their children. 

So, when several hundred students of the Baku State University (allegedly one of the most corrupted education establishments in Azerbaijan) decided to finally raise their voices, the provost- Abel Maharramov decided to make a point! No one, not him, not anyone at the school is going to put up with the capricious behavior of "few"students [AZ] who are not even Baku State University students! 

Yes, I consider myself lucky because I never had a conversation with any of my professors or the provost telling me that "had I given the money, I would have passed the exam!"or that "I should keep quiet, otherwise no one would even find the trace of me". 

Well, we all know the trace Mr. Maharramov is leaving behind...

Feudal Fascist regime of Azerbaijan

Corruption, bribery, scandal, war, exploitation, hatred, propaganda, excuses, misuse of patriotism, misuse of tragedies, and more in this to the point speech by Emin Milli.

Must watch especially on the eve of another march (March 10th) held in support of innocent deaths of Azerbaijani soldiers (and reasons behind them)! 

What we teach our kids

In Azerbaijan the number one target group intended (for best purposes only) for government propaganda is students. Especially young ones, who have no idea whats going on, and who have disinterested, afraid, inattentive or simply careless parents to teach them, tell them, explain them, guide them otherwise. And so it should come as no surprise, that Azerbaijani kids, from their very young age are told that if it wasn't for the late President Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan would be... pretty much nonexistent or a rotten hole. 

This is the short story from the first grade textbook.

Basically the story is about this little girl (but more of a conversation between this little girl and someone who is old enough to be the girl's grandmother), whose name is Mehriban (I don't have to remind you who goes by this name in Azerbaijan) and Heydar Aliyev (nor do I need to remind you of who he was) and the importance of their names. But here comes the silver-lining, at the very end, the story takes on a twist, "It is thanks to Heydar Aliyev's strength that our Azerbaijan is nourishing. And that is why our nation will always remember him fondly". 

Its interesting how the story went from explaining the meaning of the name Mehriban and Haydar, to suddenly finding the girl looking at the statue of Haydar Aliyev and lastly praising him. I wonder if every story in this textbook has this kind of a twist.

***

Systematic brainwashing (though at this stage of learning curve, calling this brainwashing would be wrong I suppose) that starts at that age, is bound to bring success in the future. The end result- generations of brainwashed (and this would be the right time to use this word) people, programmed to function under existing conditions, without questioning anything and only saying what needs to be said in certain moments. 

And then there is of course the condition of our education system. Though calling it condition would do it no justice, since there is a much better word for it- a syndrome. Its sick and its dying of cancer in the form of bribery and old Soviet style teaching. 

But then who says anybody is dying, all is good in the la-la-land of la-la-president on the shores of the la-la-sea. And everyone who lives there is happy...

Donkey Bloggers three years later

Seeing Adnan's Facebook status update reminded me of the first post I wrote on the "donkey bloggers" case three years ago, on July 9th, 2009 and other updates that followed, like this one for instance. 

I am happy that my friends are free today and that they left that part of their life behind, while moving forward. Needless to say, I wish for all innocent journalists, activists, and human rights defenders currently behind bars, on alleged charges released and charges against them dropped.

If you still haven't seen it or never heard of it, here is a video that eventually caused Adnan and Emin's arrest:

 

Azerbaijan and Eurovision (post no. 19098942093)

Here is a piece of gossip you probably missed watching Eurovision today. A young man, by the name of Rauf Mardiyev sent me a tweet calling me "brainwashed" and "stupid" (indirectly that is, through his tweets) following tweets being sent out throughout the last give or take few years about Azerbaijan, its poor democratic and human rights record, not to mention issues and problems existing with free press, and freedom to speak one's mind. It turns out, Azerbaijan's democracy is limited to only praises and words of gratitude because when it comes to criticism its not all ok. 

Translation: @arzugeybulla Will you write anything positive about this #Eurovision? Why don't you understand (your brain doesn't take it literally), what you are doing is damaging #Azerbaijan in the first place

Now, personally I would love to raise praising words when it comes to Azerbaijan, was there a democracy I would be the first to say cheers! Would there be free press and respect for Azerbaijani journalists, I would be the first to say cheers! But Rauf, as long as none of this exists, people continue going through corrupted universities and schools, patients continue to pay bribes in hospitals and fail to receive proper health care there is nothing to praise this country for. Of course, we might have different perceptions of praise- as you say "thousands like you" see Azerbaijan as a shining beacon of whatever it is that you see it to be but as I have said it already earlier today, I am going to repeat it again- WAKE UP! 

Yes, Eurovision brought us the Crystal Hall, but at what costs? I much rather prefer couple of hundreds thousands spent on our very own pensioners, on the costs of drugs they need to get, make it free or at least equally accessible for all among so many things that could be done to make lives of Azerbaijani people better.

Yes, it is also true that Eurovision brought us the city beautification, but again, at what costs? So you don't care about those Azerbaijanis who still have no water, gas, or electricity constantly running in their homes in villages all the while you and the tens of thousands like you prefer watching Eurovision and indulge yourself in wealth that is not equally distributed, nor equally accessible to other young people like you. 

If you think there is something good to say about Eurovision then talk about illegal evictions our government carried out. You should also talk about beaten, arrested journalists in prisons. Or, wait, I know, you should praise our country for blackmailing, it does it really well. 

You might be one of the hundreds of thousands but the value and weight of spoken truth is so much more than the people like you. You are trying to tell a story backwards but what you are failing to see is that the story was already told, many times and just like me, people who know, know... So if you think that by sending me few tweets as the one above, calling me brainwashed I am going to be ashamed of my actions and become a "different" person then you are mistaken (in fact, I am not sure all together why you send me tweets to this day, didn't way close this subject a while ago when you continuously decided for some reason to take up your issues with me as if I am the only person who writes about our inspirational country?). I choose honesty over whatever it is you live and propagate for.

Maybe after watching this report on Azerbaijan (watch on BBC) you will at least stop harassing me on Twitter. Peace out!

Here are the rest of the tweets we exchanged after the initial one: