Azerbaijani Opposition Comes Under Fire

With two months of campaigning remaining before Azerbaijan's parliamentary election, President Ilham Aliyev's administration appears to be on a collision course with the country's leading opposition parties.

The country's opposition has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks. Several opposition and youth group activists have been arrested -- some of them accused of planning action aimed at undermining political stability. Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed by the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) against the Ministry of National Security for allegedly attempting to orchestrate the ouster of party leader Ali Kerimli suggests that what is already a contentious campaign atmosphere could become explosive.

At an August 22 news conference, Ramiz Tagiyev, a former political prisoner and advisor to Kerimli, alleged that Security Ministry agents offered him $1,000 to foment discord within Kerimli's PFPA. If party infighting culminated in Kerimli's ouster as leader, Security Ministry officials indicated that they would pay him a bonus, Tagiyev said at the news conference. "I was promised full support, money for recruiting people inside the party and all benefits, after the successful completion of the operation," he said.

According to Tagiyev, ministry agents told him that the August 3 arrest of Ruslan Bashirli, leader of Yeni Fikir, a youth group with ties to the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), was among the "provocations" planned against the opposition party. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Bashirli was imprisoned on charges of attempting to stage a coup with the help of the Armenian special services. After Bashirli's arrest, violent pickets took place for several days outside of PFPA headquarters. Baku police have since faced criticism for doing little to prevent the attacks.

Tagiyev's accusations do not target the government alone. The PFPA advisor claims that Igbal Agazade, leader of the opposition Umid Party, invited him to meet with two Security Ministry agents, identified as Ilgar Agayev and Elchin Guliyev, to discuss the plan. Agazade, released from prison in 2005 for allegedly helping to incite the riots that followed President Aliyev's October 2003 election, has since denied any collaboration with the Security Ministry, attributing the accusation down to a PFPA bias against his party. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Appearing at the news conference with Tagiyev, Kerimli stated that he had been informed about the actions planned against the PFPA, and had, therefore, told party members not to respond to the attacks on PFPA headquarters that followed Bashirli's arrest. "It is a flagrant illegality and violation of the law by the country's special services," Kerimli said. "Instead of fighting threats to national security, the ministry is involved in a dirty struggle against the nation."

Commenting on the charges, ministry spokesperson Arif Babayev called Tagiyev's allegations "nonsense." The fact that the Tagiyev-Kerimli news conference coincided with a visit to Azerbaijan by Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe President Rene van der Linden was not accidental, Babayev argued. "They [the opposition] always prepare some