| The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001. Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date. This site is not updated so external links may no longer function. Contact us with any questions about finding information. NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein. |
TITLE: AZERBAIJAN HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
AZERBAIJAN
Azerbaijan declared its independence on August 30, 1991.
Progress toward a democratic society suffered a severe setback
following the June 1993 downfall of the democratically elected
President, Abulfez Elcibey.
Heydar Aliyev, a former Communist Party First Secretary of
Azerbaijan and Soviet Politburo member, assumed presidential
powers following a period of intense strife brought on by the
loss of large portions of the country to Armenian rebels in
Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave within
Azerbaijan. The events in June were facilitated by the failure
of the Azerbaijan Popular Front (APF) government to hold
parliamentary elections. A referendum on August 29 confirmed
the lack of public confidence in Elcibey, and Aliyev won
presidential elections held on October 3.
Under President Elcibey and the APF, the Ministry of National
Security appeared to have been relatively inactive; under the
Aliyev regime, it has arrested APF leaders without bringing
charges and is believed to have resumed surveillance
activities.
Azerbaijan continued to maintain the structure of a centralized
command economy. Disintegration of the economy continued as a
result of war, social instability, and the general collapse of
the currency and industry. The manat, the local currency
introduced in August 1992, remained tied to the Russian ruble.
Reviving ruble-denominated (soft currency) trade links with
Russia was one reason cited by Aliyev for his decision to take
Azerbaijan into the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in
September. Badly needed economic reforms remain to be
implemented. Oil is the key foreign exchange earner.
The war in and around Nagorno-Karabakh continued to be the most
significant factor in the human rights situation. Both sides
engaged in frequent human rights abuses and violations of
humanitarian law, including the killing of civilians,
hostage-taking, and ransoming the remains of the dead.
Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh launched offensives outside
the boundaries of the Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous region,
seizing Kalbacar in March; Agdam in July; and Fuzuli, Cabrayil,
Qubadli, Zangilan, and other towns to the south during the
August-October period. The attacking forces looted and burned
all villages in the areas they overran, forcing some 500,000
people, as well as earlier displaced persons who had settled in
areas subsequently overrun, to flee their homes. The total
refugee population rose to over 1 million out of a total
population of 7.5 million.
The war and attendant social instability gave rise to many
human rights abuses even before the fall of Elcibey, although
the situation worsened thereafter. The state of emergency,
which the APF government enacted in April, permitted police to
enter homes without warrants, introduced press censorship,
banned demonstrations, and restricted travel, among other
measures. Even after Acting President Aliyev ended the state
of emergency in September, the Government continued to impose
prepublication censorship. Elements within Azerbaijani society
hostile to the presence of Armenians kidnaped Armenian and
part-Armenian residents of Baku to be exchanged for Azeri
hostages in Nagorno-Karabakh. As Acting President Aliyev
concentrated power into his own hands, he took steps to
suppress political opposition.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Extrajudicial Killing
According to supporters of rebel leader Surat Huseynov, APF
government troops which attacked his forces in Gance in July
were responsible for the deaths of some civilians among the 70
persons killed. APF supporters charge that Huseynov's forces
took captive the commander of the Presidential Guard during the
engagement and butchered him in his hospital bed. In addition,
Huseynov's forces killed several local administrators during
their march on Baku in June.
b. Disappearance
Hostage-taking by both sides in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
remained endemic. Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh took
hostage hundreds of civilians, including 100 in hte Kalbacar
region alone, during their offensives against Azeri-inhabited
regions. Five Azeri civilians, along with a number of
soldiers, were traded back to Azerbaijan on September 22 in
exchange for six Russian mercenaries sentenced to death in 1992
for fighting alongside Nagorno-Karabakh's Armenians.
Azerbaijani hostage-taking, which had been on the decline,
increased after the fall of Elcibey, as ethnic Armenian
civilians, mostly residents of Azerbaijan, were kidnaped from
their own homes and from public transport. Many of these were
"arrested" and taken to the police by Azeris who wanted the
Armenians' apartments.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
APF supporters alleged that the perpetrators of the events in
June tortured ex-Parliament Speaker Isa Qambar and other APF
figures after their arrests. However, Qambar denied these
charges upon his release in August.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
On June 4, APF government forces attempted to suppress an armed
mutiny in Gance by a regiment led by Surat Huseynov, who was
demanding the overthrow of the Government and attempting to
achieve this by suborning the loyalty of the rest of the
military. Huseynov's troops defeated progovernment forces and
arrested the Attorney General, the Deputy Minister of National
Security, and the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs (the
first two had parliamentary immunity from arrest). These
arrests were sanctioned only on July 16, after Huseynov had
marched on Baku, forced President Elcibey to flee, toppled the
Government (with Heydar Aliyev assuming presidential powers),
and been named Prime Minister. On the same day, Parliament
allowed the arrest of its former speaker, Isa Qambar, and
former Minister of National Security Fakhrettin Takhmazov
without formal charges. Qambar was arrested inside the
Parliament building--even before Parliament voted to strip him
of his parliamentary immunity--and taken away to Gance as the
personal captive of Surat Huseynov. He was released on August
17 after strong protests by the United States, Turkey, and the
United Nations; Takhmazov was released a month later.
Between September 12 and 22, when the state of emergency was
lifted, an unknown number of APF leaders and some of their
family members were detained, released, rearrested, and
released again in harassing actions aimed especially at
stifling protest against Aliyev's decision to bring Azerbaijan
into the CIS. Reportedly, 34 APF leaders and activists
remained in prison at year's end. Members of the security
forces who remained loyal to the Elcibey government, including
Arif Pasayev, Popular Front military commander of Lacin, and
Isakhan Ashurov, the police chief of Qazax who helped enforce a
cease-fire on the border with Armenia in 1992, also were
arrested.
In the month leading up to the June 4 action, the APF
government used state of emergency legislation to arrest
supporters of the National Independence Party and other
opposition forces.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The legal system of Azerbaijan remains largely unchanged from
Soviet rule. There are district and municipal courts and a
Supreme Court, which serves as a court of appeals. Growing
judicial independence came to a halt in July when the
Government fired Supreme Court Chief Justice Tahir Kerimli, an
APF appointee, for his loyalty to ousted President Elcibey.
Defendants have the right to be present at their trials,
confront witnesses, and present evidence, and trials are
generally public. Exceptions to public trials are cases
involving state military secrets and those in which the judge
determines that a closed trial would be more appropriate in
dealing with sexual offenses, as for instance during the
testimony of a rape victim. Defendants may choose their own
attorney, and the court appoints an attorney for those without
one. Defendants have the right to appeal, as does the
prosecutor. The presumption of innocence has not been
incorporated into the criminal code.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
Police had the authority to enter homes under the state of
emergency in effect from April until September. The Soviet
surveillance apparatus, reorganized as the Ministry of National
Security, continued to operate under the APF government. Under
the Aliyev Government, the Ministry became more active. It is
widely believed that telephones, especially those of foreigners
and prominent political and business figures, were tapped.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian
Law in Internal Conflicts
The conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh has steadily
increased in severity since violence began in 1988. All
parties to the conflict engaged in indiscriminate shelling and
rocket fire against civilian targets, including in both
directions along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. The
Azerbaijanis also engaged in fixed-wing air attacks against
civilian targets in both Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. All
parties to the conflict have cut normal trade and
transportation links to the other sides, causing severe
hardship to civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia, and the
Azerbaijani exclave of Naxcivan.
In 1993 ethnic Armenians began to attack ethnic Azeri and
Kurdish areas outside the bounds of Nagorno-Karabakh. In
March, as peace talks were under way in Geneva, the
Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians captured the province of Kalbacar
between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. According to reliable
eyewitnesses, the entire population fled, and ethnic Armenians
looted and destroyed all villages and towns to discourage the
return of those displaced.
During the political upheaval inside Azerbaijan that these
events caused, the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians took advantage of
the collapse of the Azerbaijani army to capture Agdam to the
east in July and large parts of the Fuzuli, Cabrayil, Qubadli,
and Zangilan regions to the south and southwest in September.
As before, they drove out the population and looted and burned
the provincial capitals and most of the villages in an apparent
effort to create an uninhabitable zone around Nagorno-Karabakh
proper. The United Nations Security Council condemned these
actions.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
There were some restrictions on freedom of speech and press
under the APF government. That government's Minister of
Internal Affairs, Iskandar Hamidov, continued to harass and
beat journalists whose articles he disliked. After the events
in June, however, restrictions became more severe.
After the ouster of the APF government (including Hamidov), the
new regime used censorship in a more methodical and intensive
manner. The censor banned articles and entire editions and, on
September 13, even confiscated an entire press run of the
newspaper Azadlyq and had it burned.
The situation improved somewhat after the lifting of the state
of emergency on September 22, although official censorship
continued. In response to an open letter from the editors of
several newspapers, protesting that censorship should have
ended with the lifting of the state of emergency, the Cabinet's
Office for the Protection of State Secrets decreed on September
30 that only military, not political, censorship would remain
in effect. Censorship in fact decreased after the state of
emergency was lifted, and even further after this
announcement.
The number of newspapers available, both in Azeri and Russian,
did not diminish--one paper called itself Newspaper Number 525
because it was the 525th paper to register. Several opposition
papers, including at least five major newspapers sympathetic to
or officially published by the Azerbaijan Popular Front, the
Musavat Party, and the Azerbaijan National Independence Party,
the main political opposition, continued to publish. Small
sensationalist papers continued to publish investigative
interviews and news items.
At year's end, a media campaign was under way against the
opposition press. After an effort to impose political
censorship failed in Parliament on November 26, most papers
--including opposition papers--were told that beginning on
December 3 they would receive no offset masters with which to
publish. After strong protests by the international community,
some newspapers, including the principal opposition papers,
were given permission to use offset masters they had in stock.
On December 6, Parliament institutionalized military censorship
and authorized the Attorney General to close newspapers for
1 month for publishing information "contrary to the interests
of Azerbaijan" or libelous of individuals. The military censor
is known to have excised articles containing purely political
criticism of government figures unrelated to the war effort.
In September a number of women were arrested for passing out
leaflets protesting against Azerbaijan's joining the CIS. They
were charged under the state of emergency regulations banning
demonstrations.
Radio and television were entirely controlled by the
Government, and after the downfall of the Elcibey government
they broadcast frequent programs exoressing adulation for
government figures, especially President Aliyev. The
opposition had little or no access to the mass media.
A number of prominent academics lost their jobs after the
events in June, reportedly for their connections with the APF
government. They were replaced by figures from the Soviet era.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The state of emergency in effect from April until September
formally banned demonstrations. In fact, however,
demonstrations occurred regularly before the overthrow of
President Elcibey. After that, the new Government broke up
demonstrations, mostly organized by Elcibey's APF supporters,
using force if necessary. On one occasion in July, gunfire was
used to break up a demonstration outside the APF's
headquarters. Some APF demonstrations were later allowed to
take place when it became apparent that the party had few
supporters still willing to come to rallies.
Political parties and associations were in general allowed to
function freely, and a number of parties originally affiliated
with the Popular Front united to form a "Democratic Congress."
The APF, however, was harassed by the authorities, and a number
of its activists around the country were arrested. In some
cases they were released quickly, rearrested, and released
again in a clear attempt at intimidation.
c. Freedom of Religion
There is no state religion.
Most Azerbaijanis are Muslims, predominantly of the Shi'a sect,
but there are significant Russian Orthodox and Jewish
communities. All three are represented in a "Caucasus House,"
chaired by the Muslim Shaykh Al-Islam, which represents the
interfaith religious establishment of Azerbaijan. All faiths
practiced their religions without restrictions, with one
important exception: Armenian churches, many vandalized in
past years, remained closed, and few of the Armenians left in
Azerbaijan would have felt secure enough to attend them had
they been open. New mosques continued to open during 1993.
There is one Muslim seminary; Christians and Jews must go
elsewhere for clerical training. Muslim clerics from Turkey
and Iran, Jewish clerics from Israel and the United States, and
Christian clerics from Russia, the United States, and elsewhere
were given full access to the country.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
State of emergency regulations in force after April severely
limited travel to areas near the front. The Ministry of
National Security also used the state of emergency to
create--under the APF government--an Iranian border zone in the
south from which all nonresidents were excluded. The APF
government restricted travel to the exclave of Naxcivan in the
spring as tensions mounted between the Baku leadership and
Heydar Aliyev, then chairman of Naxcivan's Supreme Soviet.
After Aliyev's return to Baku and President Elcibey's June 17
flight to Naxcivan, these restrictions were intensified. The
Government released former Parliament Speaker Isa Qambar, the
former Minister of National Security, and others from prison on
condition that they not leave Baku; it filed no charges against
them. In December the Government denied Qambar and some
members of his political party--including at least one who was
never investigated for criminal activity--passports to travel
to Turkey.
The Government officially recognized freedom of emigration.
Jewish emigration to Israel continued, with over 23,000 leaving
since 1990, although only 749 emigrated in the first 6 months
of 1993. Some 18,000 Armenians and part-Armenians, mostly in
mixed marriages, remained in the country. Some of these were
deprived of all documents for both internal and external
travel. In general, members of minorities wishing to emigrate
are harassed by low-level officials seeking bribes; this is
especially the case of draft-age men, who are required to
obtain documentation from several levels of military
authorities before they may leave for any international
travel.
All citizens of Azerbaijan wishing to travel abroad must first
obtain exit visas or official passports from the Government.
In at least one case, the authorities denied an exit visa to a
person wishing to attend a conference on the Azeri-Armenian
conflict.
By autumn the number of refugees and displaced persons in
Azerbaijan was 891,000, according to figures accepted by the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). By year's end
the tally used by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees was just under 1 million. Close to 500,000 fled the
Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian offensives into Azeri-inhabited areas
between March and September alone, joining the 150,000 who fled
in 1992. The refugee population also consisted of 48,000
Akhiskha (Meskhetian) Turks who fled pogroms in Uzbekistan in
1990, and 200,000 Azeris and Kurds expelled from Armenia in
1988 in retaliation for anti-Armenian pogroms in Azerbaijan.
These pogroms, which recurred until 1990, drove about 350,000
Armenians to flee Azerbaijan for Armenia, Russia, and other
states. Another 50,000 Armenians have fled the fighting in
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government:
Citizens of Azerbaijan do not have the right to change their
government by peaceful means. In June the democratically
elected president, Abulfez Elcibey, was overthrown, and Heydar
Aliyev assumed presidential powers. He tried to legitimize the
transfer of power by holding a referendum on August 29, which
confirmed the lack of public confidence in Elcibey, and
presidential elections on October 3, which he won.
In theory, the President shares power with a 50-member National
Council (Milli Majlis), which was formed in 1991 under the
Communist regime, with half of its members drawn from the
opposition and half from the Communists. In 1992 the APF
regime dissolved the Supreme Soviet, which had been
Azerbaijan's parliament, and transferred its functions to the
National Council. There has been no indication whether early
parliamentary elections will be held.
There were no restrictions on women or minorities participating
in politics. Minorities such as Lezghis and Talysh formed
regional groupings in Parliament and published newspapers in
their own languages. There are two Islamic religious parties.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
Local human rights observers were not active in 1993. Those
presenting themselves as human rights groups were generally
linked with one political party or another. Some of the most
active figures accepted academic grants in the United States
and Europe, and were not present in Azerbaijan for much of 1993.
The Government expressed willingness to receive delegations
from international human rights organizations and actively
solicited observers for the August 29 referendum and October 3
presidential election. Heydar Aliyev met with the visiting
president of the U.S. Helsinki Watch and expressed his
willingness to abide by the norms of the Conference on Security
and Cooperation in Europe and other international agreements.
Meanwhile, however, human rights violations continued.
ICRC access to prisoners of war and others was sporadic.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
Women
Women nominally enjoyed the same legal rights as men, including
the right to participate in all aspects of political, economic,
and social life. Heydar Aliyev appointed several women to
senior government positions, including that of state secretary
(head of the presidential apparatus). The most active
supporters of the APF after the overthrow of Elcibey were the
party's women's groups.
In general, women are given extensive opportunities for
education, work, and political activity. In practice, social
norms of the Caucasus tend to keep women in subordinate
positions.
Violence against women is a taboo subject in Azerbaijan's
patriarchal society. In rural areas, wives have no real
recourse against violence by their husbands, regardless of the
law. Rape is severely punishable but, especially in rural
areas, only a small fraction of offenses are prosecuted.
Children
Although the Government is committed to the welfare of
children, it had no resources in 1993 to devote to them.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Previous declarations on minority rights remained in effect in
1993, and, with the exception of ethnic Armenians, minorities
enjoyed full rights. The position of Russian speakers actually
improved after the events in June, as several APF policies to
deemphasize Russian in the schools were dropped. The APF
policies had mandated that more academic subjects (not
including Russian language and literature) be taught in Azeri,
not Russian.
The 18,000 ethnic Armenians and part-Armenians, most of them
members of mixed families, continued to live in an atmosphere
of fear and uncertainty. Kidnapings of ethnic Armenians from
Baku continued, as did other forms of harassment and
persecution. A Baku newspaper began in September to publish,
district by district, the names of Armenians in Baku receiving
pensions through the mail, including some with purely Azeri
surnames. The newspaper used highly emotional language in
introducing these lists, in an apparent attempt to incite an
anti-Armenian pogrom. The Government stopped publication of
these lists, and the editor of the paper was fired.
There are credible reports of the denial of medical treatment
to ethnic Armenians and confiscation of their travel and
residence documents. Most of the Armenians who lost jobs in
previous years remained unemployed. Many were too frightened
to appear in public.
People with Disabilities
No legislation or otherwise mandated provision of accessibility
for the disabled has been enacted.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
Azerbaijani labor unions continued to operate as they did under
the Soviet system. However, the Azerbaijani Labor Federation
is no longer linked to Moscow. Unions continued to be highly
dependent upon the Government but were free to form federations
and participate in international bodies. There is a right to
strike. A number of strikes were reported in the press in
1993; the Confederation reported no retribution against
strikers.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Collective bargaining remained at a rudimentary level. Wages
were decreed by relevant government ministries for enterprises
and organizations within their budgets. Both managers and
employees at state enterprises are considered to be union
members under the Soviet holdover system. On December 13, 200
policemen invaded a military factory and arrested the manager,
who was protected by workers. The work force then went out on
strike.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Forced or compulsory labor is prohibited by law and is not
known to be practiced. There is no government office that
enforces this prohibition.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The minimum employment age is 16. Children aged 14 are allowed
to work during vacations with the consent of their parents and
the certification of a physician. Children aged 15 may work if
the workplace's labor union does not object. Eight years of
education are compulsory. This minimum is enforced by
employers under the control of trade union organizations.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
A nationwide administrative minimum wage, set by decree, was
raised numerous times in 1993 to offset inflation. The minimum
wage as of December 17 amounted to $3.60 (900 manats) per
month. It is not known how effectively the payment of the
minimum wage was enforced. The extended family's "safety net"
and reliance on outside sources of income generally assured a
decent living.
The legal workweek is 41 hours. There is at least one 24-hour
rest period, in some cases two, during the workweek. Health
and safety standards exist but are by and large ignored in the
workplace. (###)
[end of document]
Return
to 1993 Human Rights Practices report home page.
Return to DOSFAN
home page.
This is an official U.S. Government source
for information on the WWW. Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links
does not imply endorsement of contents.