MURDERER RAMIL SAFAROV’S GLORIFICATION CAMPAIGN PUSHED EKREN EYLISLI TO PUBLISH NOVEL ABOUT MASSACRES OF ARMENIANS IN AZERBAIJAN
13:16 19/02/2013 ” SOCIETY
“When I first read that Eylisli was stripped of his rank of national
writer and presidential pension, the long queue of those wishing to
throw heavier rocks at 75-year-old writer appeared before my eyes at
once,” Vitali Sharia writes in his article “Anti-Safarov, or issue
of repentance,” which was published in Echo of the Caucasus.
Touching upon the persecution of Azerbaijani writer Ekrem Eylisli
carried out for his novel-requiem “Stone Dreams” the authors
confesses that when he typed in a search engine the name of Eylisli,
the situation immediately became obvious. There were both an action
organized by the youth who “buried writer Ekram Eylisli’s books,”
carrying the books of the writer in a coffin, and the picket during
which they burnt his portraits in front of his house. And in his
native village Eylis the villagers burnt his books and demanded to
kill him. And as the apotheosis of moral terror one of the community
leaders promises to pay about 10,000 euros to the one who would cut
off the ear of the aged writer. There were also numerous accusing
publications in Azerbaijani media and indignant speeches in parliament.
“The statement released by the Writers’ Union of Azerbaijan says that
Ekrem Eylisli’s works caused righteous anger both within literary
circles and the Azerbaijani people,” the author says.
In his article Vitali Sharia draws parallels with the persecution
of Azerbaijani writer Ekrem Eylisli and events that were held about
pardoning Ramil Safarov in Azerbaijan, who hacked to death a sleeping
Armenian officer.
“A few months ago I was shocked, like many others, by the story when
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on pardoning
Azerbaijani Ramil Safarov who had hacked to death a sleeping Armenian
officer in 2004, in Budapest with whom he was passing training in the
framework of the NATO’s “Partnership for Peace” program, and then a
mass glorification campaign of the criminal was held throughout the
country,” Sharia says.
The author notes that all this was beyond belief, and thus he got
engaged in search for materials in the internet that would shed
light on maximally all the circumstances of that criminal case and
the arguments of those who sympathized Safarov.
“But the deeper I went, the more confused I became. It was natural
to assume that such a heinous crime of Safarov was pushed by no less
monstrous offence from the murdered, such an offence that he could not
even wait until morning. (Though, in any case, killing a sleeping man
is despicable and cowardly, not a manlike). But no, in fact, the only
reasonable explanation, which was made immediately after the murderer
was detained, was that the Armenian was smiling in meetings with him.
Later some details appeared that seemed to me to be fictitious and
designed by the advocate,” the article said.
According to the author, there is a possibility that the exaltation
and glorification of Ramil Safarov in Azerbaijan finally pushed Ekrem
Eylisli to publish his novel written in 2006-2007.
Russian political scientist Sergei Markedonov at the “Echo of the
Caucasus touched upon the issue of persecution of Azerbaijani writer
Ekrem Eylisli. He noted that the creativity of Baku in all that regards
the “Armenian question” leaves much to be desired: “It would seem that
it is a good reason to show that the government is not fighting against
the Armenians, but the manifestations of separatism and radicalism. And
stimulation of Aylisli could be a kind of positive message, no, not to
Yerevan, but all the Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh. After all,
official Baku calls them citizens of the Azerbaijani Republic. And
about the officials recall the experience of living together when
the time comes. However, there was no such a signal.”
Touching upon the issue of readiness to come to compromise with the
other side, Markedonov noted that the artwork is not an armament race;
there is no certain parity there. Books are not a machine or warheads
production. “But it is necessary to describe the multi-dimensional
reality, for all the wars and conflicts come to an end sooner or
later. And such understanding is needed not to answer someone else,
but to preserve their professional and civic reputation, which does
not necessarily have to join together in a tough confrontation.”
Ekrem Eylisli is national writer (since 1998) and Honored Artist
of Azerbaijan, holder of the highest order of Azerbaijan “Istiglal”
(2002) and the order of “Shokhrat” for his outstanding merits in the
literature of Azerbaijan. Recently, on the website of Russian magazine
“Friendship of Nations” was published his novel titled “Stone Dreams”
in which the author describes the massacres of Armenians in Baku
in 1990 and in Nakhichevan in 1919. The author in his novel speaks
positively about the Armenian people and their culture. The novel
“Stone Dreams” also contains criticism over the former Azerbaijani
President Heydar Aliyev and the tyranny of the system created by him.
After publication of the novel, Eylisli was exposed to severe pressures
in Azerbaijan; the pro-governmental youth held rally in front of
his house, his issue was discussed in the parliament of Azerbaijan,
MPs suggested to burn his books and to deprive him of citizenship and
deport from Azerbaijan. Many people “blamed” Eylisli in his Armenian
origin, etc. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev deprived him of
personal pension and the title of National Writer, and accused him of
“purposefully distorting the history of Azerbaijan” and “in distorting
realities about history of Azerbaijan in an inappropriate way.”
The leader of the pro-governmental party “Modern Musavat” Hafis Hajiyev
announced that he would pay about 10 Euros to the one who will cut
the ear of the writer. Only after the intervention of the media,
the politician was “warned” by the Interior Ministry of Azerbaijan
about the illegality of such appeals.
The U.S. Department of State and the OSCE Office in Baku condemned
persecution of Eylisli in Azerbaijan and called on the authorities
to fulfill their obligations.
Source: Panorama.am