Turkey Human Rights Groups to Aliyev: End Lynching Campaign!

ISTANBUL, Turkey (A.W.)–Four Turkish human rights and anti-racism groups sent a letter to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev urging him “to urgently put an end to the lynching campaign against Ekrem Eylisli” for his positive portrayal of Armenians.

Ekrem Eylisli
Ekrem Eylisli

Below, the Armenian Weekly publishes the text of the letter in full.

***

Mr. İlham Aliyev

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Baku, Azerbaijan

 

Dear Mr. President,

We, the defenders of human rights in Turkey and the opponents of racism, nationalism, and hatred, are appalled by and deeply concerned with the aggressive campaign and the threats of violence against the writer Ekrem Eylisli in your country. The only crime committed by your fellow citizen Ekrem Eylisli, whose security is your responsibility, is to have defended in his recent novel the solidarity of peoples.

As the Human Rights Watch has declared in its global press release, Eylisli has been targeted with an increasingly aggressive campaign of enmity and defamation further endorsed by official spokespersons and the media, only because he has written a novel in which he has chosen not to represent Armenians as an object of hatred. Since January 31st, the said transgressions have included protests in front of his house, insults and threats, and book-burning.

Notorious for her racist views, member of the Azerbaijani Parliament Melahat İbrahimkızı has accused Eylisli of offending not only Azerbaijan but the entire Turkish nation, thus sending a message to Turkey and provoking the same campaign of hatred against Armenians in Turkey.

Eylisli’s family, too, has been subjected to retribution: His son Necep Naibov, employed by the Ministry of Customs, and his wife Galina Alexandrova, a library director, have been dismissed without just cause.

The lynching campaign has reached its peak with the pro-government Moderna Musavat Party leaders putting a reward of 10,000 Manat on Ekrem Eylisli’s ears.

And you, Mr. President, in your capacity as the higher most leader of the state of Azerbaijan, have endorsed and even encouraged threats against Eylisli’s life by signing the presidential decree on Eylisli’s divestiture of the title “Writer of the People” and on the termination of his pension.

We are defenders of human rights and opponents of racism, discrimination, and hate in a country where, throughout its history, writers have fallen prey to unsolved cases of murder, or left to rot in prison. Ours is a country where those who express diverse views remain under constant threat. We know well how the racist, nationalist, and discriminatory state politics have driven the masses to the streets and turned individuals into murderers, even of their own neighbors.  We have lost many in such attacks, but we also bear witness to the fact that the people will not be silenced by oppression.

At the same time, we have seen firsthand how your state and the rulers of the Republic of Turkey have joined endeavors in inciting enmity among their peoples against Armenians. The hateful slogans against Armenians in the “Hocalı Protest” in Taksim Square, Istanbul, are still ringing in our ears; the banners bearing the words “You are all Armenians, you are all bastards” are still before our eyes. As a result of our opposition, those carrying these banners have been charged and indicted. For us, the defenders of rights and opponents of racial hatred in Turkey, opposing enmity against Armenians and diverse ethnic and religious identities is a foremost duty.

As proponents and defenders of peace, democracy, and justice, of solidarity of peoples and equal coexistence, we invite you, Mr. President, to use your office and enlist all your subordinates to urgently put an end to the lynching campaign against Ekrem Eylisli.

Leaders who have incited racial hatred, who have condoned such transgressions or turned a blind eye to them, have come to be known in history as a disgrace, whereas the memory of those who strive for peace will forever live to honor humanity.

HELSINKI CITIZENS ASSOCIATION

SAY STOP TO RACISM AND NATIONALISM INITIATIVE

HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION TURKEY

ASSOCIATION FOR FACING HISTORY 

17 Comments

  1. I guess it makes sense. These Turkish “human rights” groups have already achieved their mission in Turkey, where REAL lynching is actually taking place, with Armenian elderly women being slaughtered in the streets and their home… Yes, their job is done in Turkey, now, idle with nothing else to do, they have to help us Azeris. Teshekkurler, arkadeshler!

    It is hardly a lynching for a government to cancel a stipidend paid to a writer, who was previously given those awards for speaking for the nation. Now that he is clearly deemed not to be doing so, therewith out goes the title too. As to random individuals’ threat to him, they constitute no state threat.

    Aylisli is almost daily on Azeri TV, which is occasioning a lot of frank conversations among our public, with a sizable portion of population defending him. I wonder if a Turk could get on Turkish TV to talk about Armenian Genocide. The “Turkishness Protection Unit” van would be right there pronto, I bet.

    To My Turkish Human Rights Activist friends … You have your work cut out for you in Turkey. Please focus on that at home. We don’t need your help. Judging by your effectiveness in Turkey (or lack thereof), we don’t really need such help anyways.

    I have noticed that many Turks suffer from an inferiority complex. They are so close to Europe, so so close … but not there yet, alas! So they have to go out of their way, straightening that beautiful “rough” hair with buckets of hair-jell, slipping into kielbasa-skin-tight jeans, neon snickers .. if only their saber-rattling Ottoman ancestors would see them. They would be glowing with pride! I guess when you have such a bloody history, you do feel an urge to slip into someone else’s skin.

    • And through which people’s bloody history were Azeris born from?

      Inferiority complex? Coming from the Azeri who tries to make it seem like Azeris and Turks are these wildly different ethnic groups? We are not “close” to Europe. We are IN Europe. Have been for centuries. Continue to have territory that is geographically part of Europe.

      We all know where Azerbaijan will turn to if they start another war with Armenia. Seems oil has made you guys a little too confident. Fine by me, just don’t come crying to your big bother if and when you screw up again.

    • Kerim bey, don’t worry about these so-called “Human Rights” activists. There are not really human rights supporters, but in reality, communists. There goal is to sell Turkey to the communist EU when they are unaware that the Communist EU wants to divide their borders. Don’t forget : Turkiye + Azerbaijan = Bir Devlet, Iki Millet.

    • RVDV:

      Official Azerbaijan is in a panic over Pres Gul: they are constantly worried that Turkey will abandon them, and any little sign in that regard terrifies them.

      {President Abdullah Gül has congratulated Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan after the latter scored a crushing victory in elections for a second five-year mandate.} (Hurriyet)

      Azerbaijan is officially demanding a ‘clarification’ from Turkey.

    • translation please (Google does a so-so job).

      looks like this guy is saying the Armenian village (in 1909), somewhere in the territory that later became Azerbaijan, is very clean and such.
      judging from the pics, the Armenian side has a library, school, sidewalks.
      The Muslim/Tatar side (?) has people squatting on a dirt road.

      (good find Voskanapat)

  2. Kerim
    Stop being ridiculous. Human rights issues are universal matters, they don’t know borders, race, religion or nationality. Whether the Turkish Human Rights groups who issued the letter to Mr. Aliev have succeeded in their own land or not is quite off the point. The whole progressive humanity is protesting against the treatment that Aylisli receives in his country. This and the treatment that was accorded to the axe-murderer Safarov are clear signs of the degree of moral degredation into which the Republic of Azerbaijan has descended.
    Rifat
    Wishful thinking. The only common thing that Turkey and Azerbaijan have is, apart from language – which is by the way not quite the same – hatred towards Armenians. But, as you see the rift between these two countries grows bigger by the day. Besides more and more people speak out against the policy of hate mongering of their respective governments.

  3. @ RVDV, don’t flatter yourself. Turks are no big brother to us. And what exactly have you done? During the Karbaak war, instead of helping, you actually harmed us. As the Armenian President at-the-time Terr-Petrosyan has since said, the empty promises from Turkey to Azerbaijan actually made things worse, because we did not recognize early on that we were fighting a losing battle, and ended up losing even more territory before we raised the white flag to the Russians, who stopped the Armenian onslaught. Not that it is a duty for Turks to help us. If there is a war in Guatemala, Mexico has no responsibility to help, simply because they too have adopted Spanish. What irritates me about Turks and Turko-phile Azeris is the illusion that somehow Turks are the god. And you are no big brother culturally either. I hate to admit it, but whatever modern literature, scientific, etc, achievements we have are mostly due to our Soviet heritage.
    As for historical culture, we have more affinities with Persians than Turks. Just ask yourself this question: If Turkey is such a friend/big brother to Azerbaijan, why the heck were you about to normalize the relations with our arch-nemesis Armenia? It was the oil that in the end changed your mind. That was a great disillusionment to Azeris. Yes, we do have defense agreements with Turkey, but the wording is weak … Turkey would intervene if they feel like it. We all know that you are rightfully scared of Russia, and will never cross them even if we are being slaughtered. So let’s be frank, and call cows cows. You are a business ally who speaks the same language. You do sell us weapons now (not in 1990s when we most needed them), but we are paying you for it, and pretty well.

    @Avery, I have posted links to many DNA articles showing that Azeris are more cousins with their geographic neighbors than Turks. We just speak the same language through historical elite language domination. I know this idea is revolting to you (and therefore to me too), but you and I are probably closer cousins that RVDV and I. But don’t feel disgusted. I still like Turkey much more than Armenia.

    @Vahagn, you ask, why do I post on AW? I second this question. I just do news search on Azerbaijan, and ended up on AW, and like conversations on topics relevant to Azerbaijan. AW is by far the best site in terms of the liveliness and number of discussions. True, almost everyone here is an Armenian, but all the merrier for me.

    @Arshag, I am all for human rights and freedom of speech. What I am not for is exaggeration. Just as Aylisli is free to say what he says, so are the people who disprove his views. Are you saying that an Armenian writer who says Armenian are 100% at fault and Azeris 100% saints, that he face no criticism? Taking away a writer’s stipend (which no writer is owed to) is not a repression.

    • Kerim: “If Turkey is such a friend/big brother to Azerbaijan, why the heck were you about to normalize the relations with our arch-nemesis Armenia?”

      Wait a minute…..Most Armenians would agree that Turkey is their arch-nemesis, not Azerbaijan. Most Turks would say that Armenia/ Armenians are their nemesis. Get in the anti-Armenian line buddy. We were there first.

      Turkey has historical problems with all its neighbors, except Azerbaijan, yet this does not deter us from having civil and mutually beneficial relations, except with Armenia Azeris with Armenians remind of Cypriots with Turks. You lost. Stop whining about it. And Russia? Well Russia is Russia. They helped Armenians, yes, but they also helped us Turks greatly during our war of independence. Play nice with Russia, it generally will help.

      .” So let’s be frank, and call cows cows”

      Call people smart enough to not piss off Russia, smart.

      Also, name me one other country in the world that, as a precondition to normalizing relations with country A, demands that country A withdraw its forces from the territory of country B? So here’s the real question: What have Azeris ever done for Turks? Give us oil and natural gas? What, did you do it for free? Does Iran and all the other Arab states as well as Russia not do the same thing? Neither country owes the other anything, and I agree that the ethno-linguistic bond, while sizable, is as extensive as Turkish and Azeri nationalists make it seem.

  4. Kerim,

    Either you’re an Armenian “plant”, or you’re misinformed. If you are a true Azeri brother, then you’d know that the goal of the ARF Armenians is to destabilize both Turkey and Azerbaijan! Stop playing into their pathetic hands!!

    • Exactly, Kerim is ignorant about things and forgets that TR+AZ= One Nation and is victim of one neighbor who wants to expand it’s borders against them (Armenia). They have goals to cause friction against two brothers, one nation. Don’t forget Abdullah Gul is a Hemsin (type of Armenian) too.

  5. Avery, I wouldn’t say we are in panic over losing Turkey, because we have never had them (what have they done really for Azerbaijan?). That demand for a clarification from Turkish embassy is a regular part of pressuring Turkey to keep the border closed. The fact that we do actually have to pressure them for this proves that we are not “two states, one nation.” And your Sarkissian is a great strategist for thus widening the chasm between the two, even if the border never opens.

    And they do keep the border closed not just for us. It is a pressure tool for Armenia too to give up on the Genocide-recognition front, and for us Azeris to lower the gas price. I don’t bear ill-will towards Turkey over this. They are a separate country with their own interests, etc. They dont owe us anything. My problem is with the BS about Azeri-Turkish brotherhood. It is no more “sacred” than the “brotherhood” between Guatemala and Mexico.

    @Arshag, you are right. More and more people are starting to talk against hate-mongering. But they are all Azeris and Turks. Have there been any prominent Armenians to do the same? And please don’t tell me you guys don’t hate us too.

    @Robert, we Azeris feel very grateful for the affinity regular Turks feel towards Azeris. But it is just that … feelings of affinity … Nothing beyond that. They are not strong enough to overcome your fears of pissing off Russia, and we understand that. But let’s therefore be frank, and not BS. And I am not playing into Armenians hands. It is not like anyone who matters cares about what I hve say. it is just a forum where we are all wasting our times or procrastinating.

    @Voskan …, please stick with the context you know well. The journal you were referring to (Mozalan) is the Azeri version of the satirical Onion, and it is not a real serious journalistic article, but a satire.

    • Kerim@ You need to know that Abdullah Gul is an Hemsin-Armenian and while the enemy likes to divide us, i am sure they are laughing at the fact that you disagree with the “two states, one nation.” I am jealous of Azerbaijan people, because you know why. You guys are exposing the fact that Armenia was an agressor state and expelled 20 percent of Nagorno-Karabagh’s population literally. I am also jealous of the fact that the Communist and Racist EUSSR is not enslaving your country unlike Turkey-Turks, where Turkey is being enslaved by EUSSR communists via their AKP pro-Sharia law puppets (I support Kemal Kilicdaroglu and CHP). I am also jealous that while you only have 1 Armenian sellout in your country (Ayisli) versus tons more in Turkey.

      Just to let you know, beware of the ASALA terrorists. They may attack Azeri targets worldwide, and try to divide minority groups in Azerbaijan and manipulate them via terrorist groups, just like how the ASALA, Armenian terrorists and Armenian lobbies helped create the PKK terror group.

      I am just proud and envious of the fact that Azerbaijan people are 100 times more patriotic then Turkey-Turks. God bless Azerbaijan.

  6. RVDV, you are the one misinformed. E.g., I think you are confusing Azerb with Georgia when you say we should not have pissed off Russia. What exactly have we done to piss them off? Why, you might ask, then has Russia sided with Armenia and not Azerbaijan? Turkey is to blame. Let me explain.

    Russia knows that Armenia will NEVER be an ally to Turkey, and that Armenia has no choice but be an ally with Russia. So, you have essentially cornered Armenia into being a Russian ally. We Azeris however are seen as having a choice (Turkey vs. Russia), and thus we will never be perceived by Russia to be as reliably their friend as Armenia. In sum, because of Armenian-Turkey dynamics, we Azeris cannot compete with Armenia over Russia. And trust me, if we could, we woul have much preferred them over Turkey as an ally.

    You are right, Azerbaijan too has not done anything special for Turkey, besides good oil prices and helping it because a regional energy hub, which is a good selling point for their EU membership drive. But I am not the one but you who make yourself into a big brother.

    And when you say, look, we kept the border closed because of Karabak, you are missing the point. Your Abdulla Gul almost opened the border, REGARDLESS of Karabak. The fact that he was stopped at the last minute (and that is my point) was due to oil price negotiaions – we Azeris essentially played our ace card. And the point is, if we are INDEED brothers and/if you are the Big Brother, we should not have had to resort to oil to keep you in our camp.

    @Rifat, like most Azeris, we all appreciate the good-will individual Turks like yourself feel towards us. However, my point is that, it is just that, good will. And we unjderstand that you cannot translate that into action because of Russia. My beef is with BS … that somehow Turks are our big brother who are helping us, etc.

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