Azerbaijani Hunger Strikers: Opposition of the Future?

A three-week hunger strike by Azerbaijani youth activists protesting the alleged expulsion of two university students for their pro-opposition views has stirred a debate about the future of Azerbaijan's opposition.

Twelve activists from the opposition youth movements Yeni Fikir (New Thought) and Meqam (It's Time) started a hunger strike on December 28 to protest the expulsion of two youth activists, Turan Aliyev and Namik Feyziyev, from the Pedagogical State University and Baku State University. Protestors claimed that the two were expelled for their political activity and participation in opposition rallies demanding the cancellation of results of the November 2005 parliamentary elections.

Four strike participants -- Namik Feyziyev, Emin Huseynov, Turan Aliyev and Elnur Mammadov -- were eventually hospitalized with low blood pressure and severe pain.

A January 19 meeting between a public committee set up to advocate for the students' rights, Education Minister Misir Mardanov and the two universities' rectors led to the students' reinstatement. The government has not commented on the strike since the activists' reinstatement in university. But the debate over the strike's repercussions promises to linger on.

Compared with the Kmara (Enough) and Pora (It's Time) activists of Georgia and Ukraine, respectively, Azerbaijan's youth movements are much less of a cohesive force. In August 2005, the leader of Yeni Fikir, an organization with ties to the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan, was arrested for allegedly working with Armenian agents to stir up political unrest, an arrest the opposition claimed was politically motivated. The arrest of additional youth activists in the months leading up to the parliamentary elections appeared to weaken the groups' public impact still further. [For background see the EurasiaNet Insight archive].

Strike participants and opposition members, however, say that the hunger strike has now re-energized the country's youth movements. "Youth activists are getting more determined than the traditional opposition. We are planning to create a free trade union of students in order to protect students," protestor Emin Huseynov stated.

The 21-day hunger strike sparked a strong response among Azerbaijanis and led some non-governmental organizations and media outlets to set up a committee for the protection of the protestors' rights.

Independent analyst Hikmet Hadjizade agreed with Huseynov, calling the strike's outcome a huge achievement for the development of civil society in Azerbaijan. "This victory demonstrates that a new generation has appeared on the political scene," he said.

Political analyst Rasim Musabekov is not so optimistic, however. "It is great that they could get them [the students] back into university, but it was just an episode," Musabekov contended. "The majority of young people are indifferent to politics and now I do not see a large youth movement with far-reaching purposes."

But Emin Huseynov contends that the strikers essentially forced the government's hand. While no government officials came to visit the students, he claimed, representatives of the embassies of the United States, United Kingdom and Norway, and the Baku missions of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe were allegedly regular visitors. The government "had to make a concession, because they could not imagine that we would hold out for so long," he argued, adding that the action's coincidence with the opening session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe may also have played a role. The conduct of Azerbaijan's parliamentary elections was scheduled to be discussed at the session.

Education ministry officials, however, earlier contended that Aliyev and Feyziyev were expelled because of poor grades and disciplinary violations. Ministry spokesperson Bayram Huseynzade has stated that there are no political reasons for the university students' expulsion. "Although the students' participation in opposition rallies and the distribution of leaflets is a violation of university rules. . . they were not expelled for this," Huseynzade told APA news agency on January 20.

Feyziyev maintains that his grades were in order and claims that he had previously faced pressure from staff at the Azerbaijani Pedagogical University for being a Yeni Fikir activist. In June 2005 Feyziyev was expelled from the university, reportedly for bad grades, but was reinstated after intervention by ombudswoman Elmira Suleymanova.