The reason Erdoğan dismissed his adviser at Aliyev’s demand is clear. Those familiar with the Aliyev family’s history will recognize the same tactics: Heydar Aliyev used them against Leningrad Communist Party leader Romanov and Uzbek Communist Party leader Sharaf Rashidov. The scheme is simple: draw people into a corruption network, then use their involvement to blackmail them when the moment comes. The Aliyev family has long used corruption as a political tool, including in the post-Soviet period. Many high-ranking Western politicians and diplomats, as well as institutions such as the Council of Europe, have also been caught in this trap. Those who engage in corrupt dealings with the Aliyevs pay sooner or later. Once you are in, you never out. The only way to stay out of it is to refuse, despite lucrative offers and intimidation, to make deals with them. Yet, over my lifetime, I’ve come to agree with the famous saying: “History teaches us one thing: that it teaches us nothing.”

By Araz Baghirov Banning the Hijab: “Secularism” and the Long Arm of the State bakuresearchinstitute.org/en…

“Hinter dem Kopftuchstreit steht nach Einschätzung des aserbaidschanischen Historikers Altay Göyüşov ein weit grundlegenderes Problem: die Angst der autoritären Führung Aserbaidschans vor jeder politischen Kraft, die sich ihrer Kontrolle entzieht. Nachdem die Regierung die säkulare Opposition und große Teile der unabhängigen Zivilgesellschaft ausgeschaltet habe, fürchte sie nun, dass der politische Islam diese Lücke füllen könnte” taz.de/Tagebuch-aus-Aserbaid…

Appeal of political prisoner Akif Gurbanov It Is Time for Unity in Thought, Purpose and Action bakuresearchinstitute.org/en…

Amid the current dispute with Turkey, Azerbaijani pro-government media has resorted to a new narrative to attack Turkey. Now Azerbaijani pro-government propaganda attacks “brotherly” Turkey, accusing it of betraying Azerbaijan and giving Yerevan to Armenia a century ago. Even when attacking Turkey, they invoke the Armenian question because Armenia is as an eternal enemy. In fact, anti-Armenian propaganda continues unabated, and the so-called issue of Western Azerbaijan is raised daily in pro-government media. The problem is that the idea that Yerevan is actually an old Azerbaijani city unjustly given to Armenia is now embedded in the mindset of the Azerbaijani population. It should be noted that this is not a new narrative. The target has changed. Previously, for the same reason, Aliyev’s propaganda machine had another eternal enemy: the first democratic republic. He relentlessly attacked its leaders, calling them traitors who gave Yerevan to Armenia. Now the target is different. His propaganda machine attacks the Ottomans, accusing them of forcing the leaders of the first republic to do that.

“Asıl mesele, Azerbaycan’ın hiçbir devlet kurumunun demokratik seçimlerle oluşturulmadığı otoriter bir devlet olmasıdır. Burada her türlü insan hakkı ve özgürlük baskı altındadır. Siyasette ortaya çıkan boşluk uzun süre boşkalmaz. Hükümet de bunun farkında.Laik sivil toplumun ve laik muhalefetin ortadankaldırıldığı bir ülkede, kendisine karşı ortaya çıkabilecek bir sonraki muhalefetodağının siyasal İslam olabileceğini düşünüyor. Bu tür otoriter yönetimler, kendi denetimleri dışında kalan her türlü faaliyeti kendileri için tehdit olarak görür ve etkisiz hâle getirmeye çalışır.” medyascope.tv/2026/10/17/aze…

As schools introduce a hijab ban, protests erupt, and arrests continue, I’d like to reshare my article on how Azerbaijani authorities invoked Muslim solidarity and Islamic symbols during the Karabakh war. obsreligion.cnrs.fr/bulletin…

“Mutallibov believes that following the events of January 1990, political power should have passed to the Azerbaijan Popular Front. Such a transition had already taken place in Armenia and Georgia. However, Moscow decided to keep the Communists in power in Azerbaijan. Mutallibov attributes this to the Popular Front’s pro-Turkish position, noting that the “Turkish factor” was the primary reason for Moscow’s strained attitude toward the organization. Conversely, Turkey also did not want to see Mutallibov in power—viewing him as a politician loyal to Russia—and preferred to see the Pan-Turkist Abulfaz Elchibey assume the presidency.” bakuresearchinstitute.org/en…

Моё интервью Радио Франс Интернасьональ. Попытался ответить на вопросы журналистки Ольги Дмитриевой и объяснить ситуацию вокруг запрета на ношение хиджаба в школах и последовавших за этим протестов. Рекомендую к прочтению :) rfi.fr/ru/%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B2…

I’m resharing my chapter on state policies toward Islam in Azerbaijan during the early Soviet and post-Soviet periods. The comparison points to a striking continuity in methods, alongside a fundamental difference in goals. Soviet authorities ultimately sought to eradicate religion. The post-Soviet Azerbaijani state, by contrast, has sought to regulate and domesticate Islam, bringing religious institutions under state influence. Different goals do not guarantee different consequences. The revival of Islam after the Soviet collapse showed that decades of state pressure had not erased Muslim identity. This history raises a question that remains relevant: can similar methods of state control produce a different result? Read the chapter: taylorfrancis.com/chapters/e…

Recent reports of student protests and class boycotts in Azerbaijan over restrictions affecting hijab-wearing pupils have brought renewed attention to the relationship between religion and state regulation. I’m resharing my article, published in June in Bulletin de l’Observatoire international du religieux. It examines how Soviet and post-Soviet authorities sought to regulate Muharram–Ashura commemorations, and how these Shiʿi practices persisted and changed under pressure. obsreligion.cnrs.fr/bulletin…

Appeal by Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan Regarding International Advocacy bakuresearchinstitute.org/en…

First-grade enrollment in Azerbaijan fell by almost 25% between 2017 and 2026, reflecting a significant demographic shift. Fewer girls than boys continue to enter first grade, a pattern that is important in the context of Azerbaijan’s long-standing sex imbalance at birth and documented concerns about sex-selective abortion. At the same time, private-school enrollment is rising, raising questions about changing parental preferences and confidence in public education. Regional data also point to growing concentration in Baku, while many regions continue to lose population. bakuresearchinstitute.org/en…

What happened at the UN General Assembly these days reminded me of an article I wrote a few months ago. Turkish media has been attacking the Azerbaijani delegation at the UN for not leaving the hall while Netanyahu delivered his speech. Azerbaijan’s Media and Broadcasting Council — operating through what I have called the country’s propaganda ministry, the Media Development Agency — issued a statement condemning the campaign in the Turkish media. A commission of the Azerbaijani parliament issued a statement as well. These developments bring us back to the same underlying question: Azerbaijan’s increasingly difficult balancing act between Turkey and Israel. So I decided to reshare my article: “Between Turkey and Israel: Azerbaijan’s Strategic Dilemma and a Potential Opening for Moscow” bakuresearchinstitute.org/en…

It is deeply troubling that, after years of escalating repression and Azerbaijan’s transformation into a full-fledged dictatorship, the Council of Europe, rather than considering the expulsion of Azerbaijan, appears to be searching for pretexts to restore the limited credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation. This is an institution founded to defend democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. If complete destruction of those very principles carry no meaningful consequences, one has to ask what those principles—and membership in the Council of Europe—actually mean.