For the most part, pro-government forces did not sympathize with the protests, but they also didn’t like the idea of Russia and Armenia getting involved in suppressing them.
A official working group has been created with the promise of a fair investigation into the “Tartar case,” as Baku signals that it intends to take the allegations of wide-scale torture more seriously.
The government is again registering new political parties and saying it wants pluralism. But the parties who are cooperating are being mocked as “bus opposition.”
The government is heavily publicizing the concept, which could increase the economic efficiency of rural communities but also place them under greater central control.
The government had been silent since the investigation into massive corruption was released. Now Ilham Aliyev says “some forces in the West” are behind it.
The Azerbaijani government has been undertaking a campaign against corrupt officials for nearly two years now, but in a series of recent hearings the accused say they have been set up.
The move appears to be part of a steadily increasing effort by Baku to exert control over the road in southern Armenia that passes through pockets of Azerbaijan-controlled territory.
Ground was broken for the Fuzuli airport only in January, and it now has hosted its first passenger and cargo flights. But some wonder if the government’s enthusiasm for airports isn’t excessive.
Both societies quickly moved to help soldiers and civilians suffering with post-traumatic stress, but there are too few specialists in the region to adequately address all the needs.
Baku has been increasingly airing public criticisms of Moscow over the post-war order, which have been exacerbated by the lack of a formal mandate for the Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh.
The announcement of paid tours to the region upset many of those violently displaced from the region in the 1990s, who expect to go back to live - not as tourists.
Azerbaijan’s feminist movement is small, but it has received an outsized public backlash for a campaign calling attention to the state’s responsibility to prevent domestic violence.