Via Kel-Kel’s mailing list:
On May 31, 2005 two “YOX” Movement activists, Ali Ismayilov and Saleh Shukurlu were arrested in the street and taken to police station numbered 39, when they were distributing leaflets among the school children. Every year on 25 of May “The Last Call” campaign is held in Azerbaijan for all those that finish high school. As far as this day there was an opening ceremony of Baku-Tbilsi-Ceyhan Main Export Pipeline, taking Azeri oil to Turkish terminal at Ceyhan and from there to European market, so this year it was transferred to 31 May and which day turned out to be ‘An Arrest Day” for “YOX” members.
The flyers called upon the schoolchildren to help with democratic development of Azerbaijan and become the vanguards in this process. It did not contain anything against the statehood and the officials, except calling upon say “YOX” to corrupt officials, lawlessness and violence. It also said that only the young generation can bring the social and political changes about and they should be active and join “YOX” Movement Azerbaijan.
Day by day and hour and hour it is becoming harder for “YOX” Movement to continue its nonviolent political struggle with the regime. Nevertheless, we are hardened Day by Day, too. We call upon all the international organizations, Embassies, Human Rights Defenders, Governments of other countries, Journalists and our friends to stand up for our defense and help us to say a complete “YOX” to this dictatorial and suppressive regime.
We wait for your reactions and hopefully your acts of support would help us to take Ali Ismayilov from detention as soon as possible.
When writing this letter we learned that Saleh Shukurlu has been released, but the police refuses to release Ali Ismayilov.
This post was written by...
Nathan Hamm – author of 2974 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan is the Founding Editor and Publisher of Registan.net, which he launched in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with private and government clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural and political factors shape risks and opportunities and how organizations can adjust their strategic and operational plans to account for these variables. Nathan is currently seeking research, analysis, and consulting opportunities. He can be contacted via Twitter or email.
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