AZERBAIJAN: A POLITICAL EDUCATION
Leyla Amirova 10/22/06
EurasiaNet, NY
Oct 22 2006
n January 2006, Turan Aliev and Namiq Feiziev thought they had won a
battle for the opposition in Azerbaijan. They gave up a three-week
hunger strike, believing they had overturned their university
expulsions and wrenched from authorities a concession that students
should not be punished for their political views.
"Today was a victory for justice," Aliev said.
By August, the two young men were in Norway, hoping to win political
asylum.
What happened in between, critics of President Ilham Aliev’s government
say, shows just how concerned the regime is with the emergence of a
new generation of young activists.
"Azeri leaders fear the expansion of youth movements and showed their
resolve to punish any dissent by the example of the two young expelled
students," says Leyla Yunus, director of the Institute of Peace and
Democracy, a civil-society group close to opposition circles.
Today, instead of "victory" for opponents of Aliev’s heavy-handed
rule, it looks like business as usual in Azeri universities. For
students and teachers alike, that means avoiding opposition activity
and professing public support for the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party.
STARVING FOR JUSTICE
Although open dissent is rare in Azeri academia, universities are
a potential center of activism. Some youth groups work closely with
opposition parties, and during the 2005 parliamentary election campaign
a number of young activists were arrested.
As the 2005-2006 academic year began, Turan Aliev was a fourth-year
student at Baku State University; Feiziev was in his fourth year at
Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University. They were also active in the
opposition, Aliev in the Popular Front party and Feiziev in the Yeni
Fikir youth organization.
Popular Front, along with Musavat and the Democratic Party of
Azerbaijan, was part of the Azadlig coalition, the largest opposition
group to compete in the November 2005 parliamentary election. The
governing party won nearly half the seats, well ahead of Azadlig,
prompting sharp opposition protests. Yeni Fikir – one of the largest
youth organizations in the country, with a claimed membership of
2,000 – often cooperates with Azadlig. In August and September 2005
its leader, Ruslan Bashirli, and two of his deputies were arrested on
charges of plotting with Armenian security agents to overthrow the
Azeri government. Bashirli was sentenced to seven years in prison;
the others received shorter terms.
By the end of 2005, both Aliev and Feiziev had been kicked out of
university. Claiming the expulsions were politically motivated,
they joined other opposition activists in a hunger strike.
The protest attracted international calls for the students’
reinstatement. After a Jan. 19 meeting attended by U.S., British,
and Norwegian diplomats and representatives of the Council of Europe
and Azeri civil society, Education Minister Mardanov said Aliev and
Feiziev would be allowed to resume their education, although they
would have to repeat a year to make up for missed classes.
"This victory demonstrates that a new generation has appeared on
the political scene," opposition supporter Hikmet Hadjizade said,
EurasiaNet.org reported.
But Mardanov’s decision was ignored by the heads of the two
universities. Instead of returning to his study of international
relations, Aliev was ordered to join the army.
"The Narimanov district military registration and enlistment office
called me up for urgent military service," he said. University students
are exempt from conscription; Aliev appealed to the university to
clarify his situation, without success.
"It turned out that I was not a student after all," he said.
Aliev said the expulsion order issued by Baku State Rector Abel
Maharramov cited his urging fellow students to join in street protests,
truancy, posting unlawful documents on bulletin boards and "gross
violation of university rules."
Maharramov was quoted by the Trend news agency as saying Aliev was
expelled for violating internal university rules. The rector also
reportedly mentioned the student’s on-campus political activity,
such as distributing materials and putting up posters.
Maharramov said Aliev was expelled "for having violated discipline.
But before that he had been warned several times," Trend reported.
"I had good examination results and had no problems on the academic
side," Aliev said. "Students who have close contacts with opposition
parties are subjected to unreasonable pressure; they are challenged
by invented academic difficulties. All these measures aim to suppress
youth movements that always stand at the vanguard of the democratic
fight."
Feiziev, who had been studying history at the pedagogical university,
did fail an exam in the summer of 2005, but he claimed he was expelled
without the requisite three warnings. He also said he was fined the
equivalent of $20 for having insulted and threatened to kill the
dean of his university’s philological faculty. Like Aliev, he says
his political activity was the true reason for the university’s action.
According to a EurasiaNet.com report, Education Ministry spokesman
Bayram Huseynzade said the students’ participation in opposition
rallies and distribution of leaflets violated university rules, but he
insisted they were expelled for poor grades and disciplinary problems.
"Hopefully, they will be able to continue their studies at a Norwegian
university," says Seymur Gaziyev of the Platform of Azerbaijan Youth
coalition.
MANDATORY ACTIVISM
Opposition figures and advocates for democratic change in Azerbaijan
believe Ilhan Aliev’s government is concerned by the activities of
young opponents of the regime.
"The authorities put obstacles in the way of the activities of
dissenting youth, trying things like expulsion from university,"
says Emin Alisoy, head of the Musavat party’s youth branch.
Despite the watchful presence of the ruling party, the number of youth
groups in Azerbaijan keeps growing. One of the most vocal called on
supporters to rally against corruption and police violence on Oct. 18,
the anniversary of Azerbaijan’s independence from the Soviet Union.
"As the new academic year starts we will try again to get youth
actively involved in the social and political life of the country,"
despite Baku city officials denying permission to hold the event,
said Ali Ismayilov, chairman of the Yox ("No") organization.
But the march never happened. On 17 October Ismayilov was detained
by police for several hours. He claims to have been warned by a
high-ranking police officer that he would face severe punishment if
the march took place.
Cases like these and the reprisals against Aliev and Feiziev appear
to have dampened some students’ enthusiasm for open opposition.
"I share the views of Musavat and even participated in their protest
acts. But I was lucky that no one in the university knew that I
had participated in the meetings, like Aliev," says one student who
requested anonymity.
"After Aliev’s expulsion from our university, I stopped attending
opposition events," this student says. "I didn’t want to put my career
at stake."
Many students are active on behalf of the ruling party, chiefly because
they feel there is no choice. Sabina Mammadova, a 2005 graduate of
Baku State University, recalling having to walk out on a lecture to
attend a mandatory party meeting.
"We were afraid not to go [to the meeting] because it might have
reflected on our exams," she says.
Teachers have also reportedly lost their jobs for their political
activity. Opposition parliamentary deputy Nasib Nasibli alleges that
three professors at Baku State, Kamil Vali Narimanoglu, Khaladdin
Ibrahimli, and Jahangir Amirov, were fired for their political views
after last year’s elections.
Educators at all levels are expected to toe the ruling-party line.
Independent-minded university teachers can sometimes find a haven in
one of Baku’s private institutions, such as Western University or
Khazar University, which enjoy far more leeway in personnel policy
than state schools.
Still, even at private universities opposition sympathizers seldom
make an open show of their beliefs. "The state sometimes has reason to
be dissatisfied with oppositionist teachers," says Islam Gahramanov,
a professor at the pedagogical university and an opposition supporter.
"I agree that young people needn’t be involved in political activity.
We are at university to teach and not to pursue politics."