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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000021 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CARC AND DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM KHUM AJ
SUBJECT: NAKHCHIVAN UPDATE: MORE HR VIOLATIONS AND RETURN 
OF OPPOSITION 
 
Classified By: Political-Economic Counselor Rob Garverick, Reasons 1.4 
(b and d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  The authorities of the Nakhchivan Autonomous 
Republic continue to pressure ordinary citizens attempting to 
protect their rights.  On January 4 an elderly blind man was 
imprisoned, and possibly put into a mental institution, for 
complaining about the police beating his son.  Separately, a 
formerly prominent opposition figure in Nakhchivan has 
returned to Azerbaijan, and plans to organize the opposition 
campaign for the 2010 parliamentary elections.  His 
activities in  the province will be a severe test of the 
local authorities' willingness to allow any dissent at all. 
End Summary. 
 
Elderly Blind Man Imprisoned for Complaining 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) On 24 December 2008 7 young people were arrested in 
Nakhchivan for vandalizing the New Year's tree in the center 
of the city.  According to the local human rights defenders, 
the young people were beaten in detention and then released. 
The parents of the 7 complained to the police department, and 
on January 4 they were also arrested and beaten.  Three of 
the families agreed to renounce their complaints and were 
released.  Ismayil Huseynov, age 72 and blind, and his wife 
Khanimzar Huseynova, refused to take back their complaint. 
The wife was put under pressure to testify that her husband 
is insane, but she was eventually released. Huseynov, 
however, remains imprisoned and has probably been transferred 
to a mental institution, although the authorities refuse to 
confirm this. 
 
¶3. (C) Opposition newspapers in Baku are now reporting that 
the wife and son are also missing, and may be in hiding 
somewhere in Nakhchivan.  Unconfirmed rumors state that the 
border guards have been told not to let the family leave the 
enclave. The Embassy is following up with calls to the leader 
of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the Presidential 
Apparat in Baku to express concern about the reports. 
 
Possible Return of Opposition Leader 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (C) Separately, on January 4 PolOff met with Asaf Guliyev, 
who was formerly the chairman of the oppositon Popular Front 
Party in Nakhchivan.  (Note: th Popular Front ruled 
Azerbaijan in the early 1990, during the Nagorno-Karabakh 
war with Armenia. Heydar Aliyev, who hails from Nakhchivan, 
oustedPopular Front leader Abulfaz Elchibey as Presidentof 
Azerbaijan in 1993.  End Note)  Guliyev explained that he was 
active in resistance to the Soviet Union from the 1970s, and 
was arrested for his political beliefs under Heydar Aliyev. 
He was freed from jail along with hundreds of other alleged 
political prisoners after Azerbaijan joined the Council of 
Europe in 2001.  He organized a united opposition movement in 
Nakhchivan ahead of the 2005 parliamentary elections called 
the "Democracy Development Center."  After the elections, 
however, he left the country for Turkey, worried about being 
imprisoned again. 
 
¶5. (C) Guliyev says he has returned to Azerbaijan in order to 
organize the opposition in Nakhchivan for the 2010 
parliamentary elections.  He claims to have gathered the 
support of a number of opposition parties in Baku, and as a 
first step will set up a communications center so that 
opposition members can connect with the outside world via the 
Internet.  He will also use his center to gather information 
about what is happening in Nakhchivan and try to get this 
news into newspapers in Baku, as there is currently little 
reporting done in Nakhchivan. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶6. (C) Huseynov's imprisonment is indicative of the 
increasing crackdown in Nakhchivan on the ability of ordinary 
citizens to protect their rights.  This pressure increased in 
advance of October's presidential election and does not seem 
to be decreasing.  The possible return of an opposition 
figure with some public support will be a test of whether 
there is any room for dissent at all in the province.  The 
 
BAKU 00000021  002 OF 002 
 
 
Embassy will continue to monitor this situation closely. 
LU