· April, 2009

Stories about Azerbaijan from April, 2009

Azerbaijan: Last day of April

  30 April 2009

Sheki, Azerbaijan comments on today's massacre of at least 13 students at a university in Baku and says that the end of April will now live on in the collective memory of the country as the day when the children of some families never came home.

Azerbaijan: Police

  29 April 2009

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines comments on the continuing saga of Parviz Azimov, a youth activist recently expelled from his university. The blog notes that whereas the police usually concentrate on preventing serious criminals from carrying on their activities, in undemocratic countries they usually focus on youth and political activists...

Azerbaijan: Blog round-up

  27 April 2009

Writing on his In Mutatione Fortitudo, Global Voices Online Azerbaijan author Ali S. Novruzov says that Radio Free Europe has started to pay attention to the local blogosphere. However, he notes, the station needs to learn a few important lessons about blogging and citizen media.

Azerbaijan: Back in Baku

  26 April 2009

Scary Azeri in Suburbs returns to her native Baku. Posting photographs of the Azerbaijani capital, the blogger, now resident in the U.K., says that the city is full of contrasts and changes.

Azerbaijan: Student protest

  21 April 2009

Following the expulsion of Parviz Azimov from his university in Lankaran State University, the Dalga youth movement have staged an action demanding his reinstatement. Video of the protest at the Azerbaijani Ministry of Sport and Youth is available on YouTube.

Azerbaijan: Corruption in the education sector

  20 April 2009

Thoughts on the Road updates its readers on the case of Parviz Azimov who was recently expelled from his university. The blog says that if administrators and professors had hoped Azimov would now remain quiet about corruption in the education sector in Azerbaijan, they were very much mistaken.

Azerbaijan: Dalga youth activist expulsion update

  18 April 2009

In Mutatione Fortitudo, the blog of Global Voices Online author Ali S. Novruzov, provides its readers with an update on the case of Parviz Azimov, the student activist recently expelled from university. The blog is concerned that the reason given for the action taken against Azimov is an alleged involvement...

Azerbaijan: Youth activist expelled from university

  18 April 2009

According to information spread by the Dalga Youth Movement, Parviz Azimov, the head of its Southern Regional Office, has been expelled from university. Both inside and outside Azerbaijan, bloggers are concerned by the action taken against the student activist.

Azerbaijan: Freedom of speech, censorship and expulsions

  16 April 2009

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines comments on news that a student activist has been expelled from his university. The blog says that the move is most probably connected to his political activities and wonders when the cycle of repression and intimidation will end.

Azerbaijan: Operatic Sheki

  15 April 2009

Sheki, Azerbaijan says that while the government has started to publicize the history and culture of her country abroad, there is still much to discover. For example, she reports, the first female opera composer in the Orient was not only Azeri, but also came from her home town.

Azerbaijan: Turkish music banned?

Following reported progress towards normalized ties between Yerevan and Ankara, In Mutatione Fortitudo comments on unverified pro-government news reports and blog posts in Armenia which quote questionable sources alleging that Turkish music has been banned on Azerbaijani TV and radio. The blog, based in Baku, says that nothing could be...

Georgia: Citizen media and the Tbilisi protests

  10 April 2009

Writing on the Frontline Club blog, Global Voices Online's Caucasus editor says that the online coverage of two days of protests in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, by student and professional journalists has set new standards for citizen media in the South Caucasus.

Azerbaijan: The view from Baku

Following U.S. President Barack Obama's speech in Ankara on Armenian-Turkish relations and the need to resolve the conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh, Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines sums up and comments on the view from Baku.

Azerbaijan: Reflections on Obama visit

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines hails Obama's recent visit to Turkey as a success and says that despite threats from Azerbaijan, a country still effective at war with Armenia, no retaliatory actions have been taken yet. The blog concludes that the visit could yet spell real change for the Caucasus.

Azerbaijan: Grumpy old troll

  5 April 2009

A little over a month after setting up her blog, Scary Azeri in Suburbs responds to a troll who takes exception to what she writes. The blogger is nonetheless happy that even angry readers means more traffic.

Azerbaijan: Mud Volcanoes

  4 April 2009

Environmental graffiti visits Azerbaijan's mud volcanoes and says they are a sight to behold. The blog says that in 2001 one of the country's 300 mud volcanoes spewed flames 49 feet high.

Nagorno Karabakh: Interrogation

  4 April 2009

DispatchesFromElsewhere details being detained and questioned while visiting the unrecognized and self-declared Republic of Nagorno Karabakh. Inhabited by ethnic Armenians but situated within Azerbaijan, the blog says that the problems started while trying to enter the ghost town of Aghdam.

Azerbaijan: The great outdoors

  3 April 2009

Scary Azeri in Suburbs continues to examine the differences between life in Azerbaijan and life in England. This time round, the blog comments on the different approaches taken to the great outdoors.

Armenia-Azerbaijan: Online peace building

  3 April 2009

Writing on the Frontline Club, Global Voices Online's Caucasus editor comments on the role social networking sites and blogs could play in continuing efforts to resolve the frozen conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh.