Azerbaijan appears to be joining in Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s campaign against a religious movement led by U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen.

Erdogan claims that adherents of the Gülen movement are intent on bringing down his government, and over the past year, he has carried out a no-holds-barred crackdown on suspected Gülenists.Gülen movement representatives deny Erdoğan’s allegations about engaging in anti-state activity -- but jitters about groups critical of governments run strong in Azerbaijan.

On Apr. 8, Erdoğan told members of his Justice and Development Party that he had discussed the movement with Azerbaijani officials during an early April visit to Baku and handed over a list of Azerbaijanis considered to be Gülen supporters. Azerbaijan is Turkey’s closest regional ally.

For the past several years, the Azerbaijani government has tried to restrict the activities of Islamic groups, but, until recently, had made no public move against Gülen sympathisers.

Such individuals — called nurçular in reference to the 20th-century Sunni theologian Said Nursi, who inspired Gülen’s education-based initiatives — do not carry the same weight in Azerbaijani society as they do in Turkey. But over the past couple of weeks, there have been several indicators that Baku is toughening its stance.

Gülen movement representatives deny Erdoğan’s allegations about engaging in anti-state activity — but jitters about groups critical of governments run strong in Azerbaijan.

In recent weeks, rampant speculation on social networks and pro-government media outlets in Baku have focused on which Azerbaijani government members could sympathise with the Gülen movement. One purported Gülen sympathiser, presidential administration spokesperson Elnur Aslanov, was fired on Mar. 17.

The Azerbaijani government has not commented on the reports. But, arguably, events already speak for them.

In early March, Khalik Mammadov, vice-president of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR), announced that the government-run energy company had taken over 11 Turkish-language high schools, 13 university-exam preparation centres and the private, Baku-based Caucasus University, all run by a Turkish educational company called Çağ Öğrətim (Era Education).

Since 2011 SOCAR has run a network of schools with the purported aim of improving Azerbaijani educational standards. Çağ Öğrətim, now known as the Baku International Education Centre, has operated in Azerbaijan since 1992, and has enjoyed a reputation for producing disciplined students sensitive to Islamic ethics and capable of entering top-notch universities worldwide.

Çağ Öğrətim has never acknowledged a link with the Gülen movement, but most Azerbaijani education specialists and political experts have viewed its facilities as part of the Gülen movement’s 140-country network of schools.

Çağ Öğrətim is part of the International Association of Turkish and Azerbaijani Manufacturers and Businessmen, a group that contains many Turkish companies that advocate Gülen’s principles.

SOCAR representatives have not elaborated on the conglomerate’s interest in the Çağ Öğrətim schools – all but Caucasus University were acquired last year — but some observers see a link to Turkey’s suspicions of the Gülen movement.

“I think, for Azerbaijani authorities, the idea is certainly that ‘we can control them more efficiently if we manage them,’” commented Paris-based Turkey specialist Bayram Balci, who formerly worked in Baku for the French Institute of Anatolian Studies (IFEA).

In March, in a move seen as intended to target Gülen’s finances, Turkey shut down Gülen-associated private schools that, like Çağ Öğrətim’s Araz courses, prepare students for university-entrance exams. Erdoğan asked other countries to follow suit.

Balci reasons that the Turkish government likely urged “fraternal” Azerbaijan, a country that shares close linguistic and cultural ties with Turkey, to “pay attention” to such schools as well. “For the Azerbaijani government, this is a good opportunity to show to Ankara that Baku is always in solidarity with Ankara.”

SOCAR, Turkey’s long-time pipeline partner, would seem a natural candidate for any such exercise. The company’s spokespeople could not be reached for comment. Similarly, Çağ Öğrətim did not respond to requests for interviews about the switchover to SOCAR.

Caucasus University Rector Ahmet Saniç told EurasiaNet.org that he prefers not to discuss the issue “for awhile.”

Even if there was no pressure coming from Ankara, Azerbaijani leaders would seem to have reason to be wary of Çağ Öğrətim’s high schools and exam-preparation centres.

Aside from Baku, the schools exist in key regional population hubs such as Ganja, Lenkoran and Sumgait as well as more remote locations. That presence in the regions is a potential source of concern for the Azerbaijani government, which has faced large-scale regional protests in recent years, some observers believe.

“As alumni of those schools, like everywhere else in the world, they have their own community. In Azerbaijan, where political parties and other institutions have been weakened, their [school] network … looks even more distinguished,” said Altay Goyushov, a professor of Islamic history at Baku State University.

“That is what the Azerbaijani government does not like: the competition.”

Yet Erestin Orujlu, director of Baku’s East-West Research Centre, believes that certain officials are using the hub-hub about the movement in Azerbaijan simply “to weaken each other’s position.”

Aside from Aslanov, a published list of alleged Azerbaijani Gülenists also included Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov, State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations Director Elshad Iskenderov and, ironically, SOCAR’s Mammadov.

Like Aslanov, who now works in the Ministry of Communications, the Defense Ministry has denied the allegations about Defense Minister Hasanov’s alleged affiliation with the Gülen movement. The other named individuals above have not publicly commented.

For some Azerbaijanis, the silence comes as no surprise. The allegations are “trumped up,” charged Orujlu. “The Azerbaijani government does not face any threat from the nurçu movement.”

Editor’s note:  Shahla Sultanova is a freelance journalist focusing on Azerbaijan. This story originally appeared on EurasiaNet.org

As two young Azeri poets enter their 11th week in detention in Iran, efforts to secure their release are not losing steam, nor are political tensions between the two countries.

Officials in Azerbaijan have publically condemned the arrest, which many experts have described as being political in nature.

The Iranian Centre for Independent Writers and Poets invited Farid Huseynzade (23) and Shahriyar Hajizade (21) to the Maraga poetry festival on Apr. 29.

The two were arrested on May 3 in Tabriz, while on a bus on the way back to Baku.

It took five diplomatic requests from the foreign ministry in Azerbaijan to prompt an official response from the Iranian government stating that the poets had been arrested in conjunction with “criminal activity”.

“However, Iran does not specify the (exact) crime that the poets are accused of,” Elman Abduallayev, spokesman of the foreign ministry of Azerbaijan, told IPS.

Iranian media have reported that the pair was arrested for espionage against Israel, as well as for the use of illegal drugs.

For Alik Alioghlu, a young writer and close friend of both Huseynzade and Hajizade, charging the two poets with espionage is “ridiculous”, as his friends have never been involved in political activity and never been critical of Iran.

“They were writing about love and about some social issues. They were not even interested in depicting the political situation in Azerbaijan (let alone in Iran),” Alioghlu told IPS.

Mail Hajizade, Shahriyar Hajizade’s farther, told IPS his son was never involved in any activity related to Iran.

For the duration of their arrest, the poets were only allowed to call home three times on May 27, Jun. 7 and Jun. 21. They told their parents they were being treated well and that they had been accused of entering Iran without the proper documentation.

However, according to an agreement between Iran and Azerbaijan, since Feb. 1, 2010 Azerbaijani citizens have been free to travel to Iran without a visa, except journalists. This contradicts Iranian officials’ justification for holding the two artists.

On Jul. 12, a group of 14 Azerbaijan-based youth organisations addressed United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon about the arrests in Iran and asked the rights body to take decisive steps towards the release of Huseynzade and Hajizade.

One of these organisations, the IRELI Public Association, issued a statement on Jul. 10 about the arrests and sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

“If those poets were guilty, the Iranians would have announced it immediately,” said Orkhan Mukhtarli, head of the literature assembly at the IRELI Public Association. But the absence of an official statement for more than two months suggests that there is something else behind the arrest, she said.

Niyazi Mehdi, a professor at the Baku State University in Azerbaijan who taught both Huseynzade and Hajizade, believes the claims against the two are “unconvincing”.

“It is very difficult to get information out of Iran. It is ridiculous to accuse the poets of espionage because, at best, they can only take pictures of some buildings – which can be obtained via satellite anyway. So why send two poets all the way there (to spy)?”

Chingiz Abdullayev, a prominent writer and head of the PEN club in Baku, has also appealed for their release.

Shahbaz Khuduoghlu, journalist and director of the Qanun publishing house in Baku, believes that Iranian media coverage of the arrests – which generally ends with footage of meetings between Azebaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – highlights the explicity political nature of the arrests.

“It shows that those poets are victims of a political (game) between Iran and Azerbaijan. That is why I sent a letter to the Iranian embassy in Azerbaijan to ask them to let Azerbaijani NGO representatives, journalists and lawyers meet the poets in Iran and clarify what happened. I have not heard anything back yet,” he told IPS.

Global geopolitics

The relationship between the two states has recently been deteriorating, with each side accusing the other of political treachery.

Officials in Azerbaijan say the Iranian authorities are planning terrorist attacks against the country, while Iranians have accused Azerbaijan of “siding with Israel”.

In January, police in Azerbaijan arrested Rasim Aliyev and Ali Huseynov in connection with an alleged plot to kill Israelis living in Azerbaijan.

In March security services in Azerbaijan arrested 22 people, mostly Azerbaijani citizens, who they said had been hired by Iran to carry out terrorist attacks against the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Baku.

Iranian officials criticised the arrests, saying that Azerbaijan was working for Israel.

The 1.6 billion-dollar arms deal between Azerbaijan and Isreal in 2011 made Iran concerned about Israel’s rising influence in the region, and suspicious that Israel could potentially use Azerbaijan to launch an attack against Iran.

In early May, when Azerbaijan was about to host the Eurovision Song Contest, Iranian officials claimed that the event was immoral and staged several protest actions against it.

“Response protests” erupted outside the Iranian embassy in Baku, during which demonstrators brandished posters depicting half-naked images of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei.

For Elkhan Shahinoghlu, head of the Atlas Research Centre, 2012 has been the most “intense” year in the two country’s 20-year-long diplomatic relationship, with the month of May being the climax in rising tensions.

“The arrest of the poets is Iran’s way of warning Azerbaijan that Iran can be aggressive if its messages are not taken seriously,” he added.

Still, on an official visit to Azerbaijan last month, the Iranian minister of education presented Aliyev with an invitation to participate in the upcoming summit of head of states of the Non-Aligned Movement member countries.

While receiving the Iranian minister on Jul. 12, Azerbaijan’s foreign minister demanded that Iran take concrete steps toward the release of the Azeri citizens.

Shahinoghlu said if the poets are not released in time for the summit, the Azeri president should stay away, as his presence in Iran “would (paint) a very bad image of both (our) president and of the country”.

Meanwhile, the Iranian government has not yet arranged the requested meeting between the poets and an Azerbaijani counsellor.

Now the foreign ministry has issued a warning to its citizens to be cautious while traveling to Iran.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, Seyed Abbas Arakchi, will arrive in Azerbaijan soon to discuss the current situation in bilateral terms.

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As the attention of the world faded away from Azerbaijan after the recent Eurovision song contest, police began targeting some young activists and a journalist involved in protests here last month.

The Eurovision song contest was as much a moment of enjoyment for music lovers as it was a fierce contest between the Azerbaijani government and its opponents to highlight the ‘reality’ of a politically turbulent country; with the former presenting a respectable image to the West, and the latter struggling to expose human rights violations and government suppression of basic civil liberties.

More than ten protest rallies were organised on the eve of the contest.

Human rights defenders and activists had anticipated a post-Eurovision crackdown, when the spotlight had turned away from the country and the government would be free to punish those who had dared to educate the world about the grave situation on the ground in Azerbaijan.

On Jun. 6, the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS), a media rights watchdog, was notified by the Sabail District Police Office that a photo journalist named Mehman Huseynov, an IRFS member, had allegedly insulted police officers during a protest on May 21.

The district police office has now opened a criminal case against Huseynov under Article 221.2.2 of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic.  If found guilty, Huseynov will face five years in prison.

Huseynov (23), said the accusation is related to his work, which for many years has entailed photographing events that depict government wrongdoings and disseminating them via social media.

Several months prior to Eurovision, Huseynov actively joined the Sing for Democracy Campaign.

“I was media coordinator within the campaign. My photos and videos were shared in international media.  Of course, they showed the reality of Azerbaijan, (which) is unfortunately not very positive. That is why I am a target now,” he told IPS.

Over 30 human rights organisations joined Sing for Democracy in an effort to pressure organisers of the contest to demand greater democracy in Azerbaijan.

The campaign called for the release of political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, protection of property rights and the independence of courts.

IRFS head Emin Huseynov, Mehman Huseynov’s older brother, links the accusation against the latter with his profession. “It is the start of the post-Eurovision crackdown. It is revenge against the IRFS for actively informing foreign journalists and international media on the eve of Eurovision about many harassment cases in Azerbaijan. Besides, during seven years of work, we investigated many cases of pressure on journalists. Now, they want to punish us.”

Before the song contest, Leyla Yunus, director of the Institute of Peace and Democracy, had often warned of a serious backlash after the Eurovision-fuelled tourist season died down. She believes Mehman Huseynov is the first victim of that campaign.

“Mehman’s work has been shared and discussed recently. Besides, he is working for IRFS, which is critical of the government. By arresting him they want to (blacklist) a good photo journalist and put pressure on his brother Emin.”

Various other activists were also brought into police stations this week.

Beyim Hasanli, a member of the opposition Popular Front Party’s Youth Committee was called in to the Sebayil district police station on Jun. 9.

She was asked how she got information about the May 21 protest action and why she attended it. Hasanli was also asked if she ever noticed a media representative being rude to the police.

“After that they showed me a video in which I was trying to help a woman dragged by police. There were many journalists, including Mehman, who tried to film it but police would not let them do so. It also showed Mehman (swearing) when he was not allowed to film.”

After that Hasanli was asked to write a report on what she saw on video.

A week ago, her father was called in to the Absheron district Main Police Office and asked to sign a statement promising to be responsible for his daughter’s activities.

Hasanli claims all this was done to intimidate and discourage her from being an activist.

Natig Adilov, a journalist with the opposition Azadlig newspaper and activist with the Popular Front Party, was called in to the Sabirabad police station on Jun. 13, where he was “advised” to get involved in better activities than participating in protest rallies.

“They do it to scare people so that they stop their public activity. For autocratic regimes like this, intimidation is very important to manage their (stronghold). It is also related to me being very active during Eurovision,” said Adilov.

Ehsan Zahidov, spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said the recent slew of interrogations against activists and journalists has nothing to do with their activity during the Eurovision song contest or their political background but pertained to them violating “rules”.

“To advise people (on how to behave) is part of the job of police officers. They do not care about the political activity of citizens. Natig Adilov was just advised not to violate public order. That is it,” he told IPS.

For Arzu Abdullayeva, human rights defender and co-chair of the Helsinki Citizens Assembly, recent pressure on journalists is not limited to Eurovision activity.

“Activists have always been a threat to the Azerbaijani government. By (putting) pressure on activists, journalists, by arresting them, the government (lets potential dissidents) know that they will have the same future.”

Human rights organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned the accusation against Huseynov.

The authorities should “drop the bogus charges against Huseynov and ensure that he can exercise his right to freedom of expression”, Human Rights Watch said in its recent report.

Amnesty International’s statement mentions that Huseynov’s arrest comes amid a worrying rise in police harassment of young activists who participated in protests around Eurovision.

According to Max Tucker, Amnesty International’s Azerbaijan campaigner, Mehman’s arrest signals the start of the widely predicted government crackdown on those they consider responsible for negative publicity during Eurovision.

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