Weekly Bulletin: Issue 113
8-14 January 2024
Pre-election updates: Aliyev tells reasons for early vote
On 9 January, the Central Election Commission approved the presidential candidacies of four more politicians – Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Fazil Mustafa, Fuad Aliyev, and Elshad Musayev – in addition to Aliyev and the other two candidates registered earlier (see Issue 112 for details). Thus, seven candidates, all known to be Aliyev loyalists, will stand in the presidential election on 7 February. Talking to state-linked broadcast media journalists on 10 January, Aliyev eventually outlined three reasons for the snap vote. First, he said, “the restoration of sovereignty” - referring to the Nagorno Karabakh takeover – marked the beginning of a new era for the country and the snap election will conclude the previous phase. Second, it will be the first time an election will be held in the entire territories of Azerbaijan, and “I decided that the first must be the presidential election,” he added. Third, Aliyev justified the early vote by his completion of the 20th year of his presidency. Independent election analysts, however, were not convinced that the justifications brought by Aliyev aligned with the constitutional norms. Many commentators contend that there is a pre-election standstill in the country and it is because of a lack of public trust in the electoral process, the elevated repressions, and the failure of genuine oppositional candidates to run for votes. On 11 January, the state media regulatory agency MEDIA held a joint conference, where journalists were warned to “put national interests above all” in their coverage of the election “to the background of a situation where campaigns based on fake and false information are rampant at the global level.”
Another Abzas Media journalist arrested
On 13 January, the Azerbaijani authorities arrested young female journalist Elnara Gasimova in connection to the case of Abzas Media. Gasimova became the sixth Abzas employee arrested since the crackdown on the media outlet started in late November 2023 after its series of high-profile corruption investigations (see Issue 108 for details). Similar to the others, Gasimova is also formally accused of bringing large sums of money into the country – for which she faces a lengthy prison term.
Azerbaijan arrests French citizen over espionage allegations
On 9 January, the Azerbaijani ambassador to Paris, Leyla Abdullayeva, confirmed that a French businessman based in Baku, Martin Ryan, was arrested by the Azerbaijani authorities on 4 December over suspicions of espionage. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs later stated that the arrest was arbitrary and called for Ryan’s immediate release. The Azerbaijani MFA quickly responded, by deeming the French statement as “interference into Azerbaijan’s internal affairs and criminal investigation.” The MFA also revealed some details of the case by alleging that Ryan acted in collaboration with two diplomats of the French embassy in Baku, who were recently declared as persona non grata by the Azerbaijani authorities for this reason. Ryan denies the espionage charges. His family believes Ryan was arrested due to the deteriorated France-Azerbaijan relations (see Issue 112 for details). In the past, Ryan spoke to Azerbaijani state mouthpieces, criticizing Macron’s unfriendly policy towards Azerbaijan.
Chief Plan of Baku published
On 8 February, the Azerbaijani State Urban Planning and Architecture Committee published the Master Plan of Baku city, which was awaited for nearly two decades. The city plan was prepared by a German international urban planning company based on Azerbaijan’s request. The Plan, inter alia, envisages expanding Baku’s metro lines from 25 to 46 by the year 2040. The city’s boulevard will also be extended from its current 8 km length to 25 km. According to the Plan, roads and transportation systems, the source of growing dissatisfaction, will be improved. Some experts suggest that Baku’s construction boom will also be curbed. However, the Plan also drew some critical questions. Firstly, the Plan specifies that Baku’s population will reach only 3.2 million people in 2040, but it is known that the population of Baku is bigger than that at the current rate. Secondly, the plan aims to attract 93.6 billion AZN (approx. 55 billion USD), mostly from the state budget, by the year 2040, but it is doubtful whether the country has enough resources for this. Similar state programs in the past have failed to reach their goals.