Mikhail Belyayev exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
The beginning of 2013 was marked in the socio-political life of Azerbaijan by the protest in connection with death of recruit Dzheikhun Gubadov on January 7th. Despite the official version of a heart attack, the family of Gubadov says that his death was violent. Meanwhile, photos of the recruit with bruises and scars on his body were spread in social nets. Significant social resonance was caused. Both the authorities and the opposition initiated investigations of the case – it is a rare case of unification of political forces which are opposite to each other. Five days later, on January 12 a spontaneous protest demonstration which was organized by youth activists through Facebook took place in the center of Baku. Several hundred young people participated in the demonstration, as well as members of deceased soldiers’ families. Mother of Dzheikhun Gubadov rejected participation in the protest and asked not to politicize her son’s death. However, politics was involved.
The interesting thing about the protest is that it was organized in shortest terms: there were only three days between the announcement of the demonstration and its holding. 17 thousand Azerbaijani Facebook users responded to the call to take part in the meeting in Baku. In general 100 thousand Facebook users received invitations. But considering the peculiarity of social nets where online-activity of users is transparent to their friends, the information cover of the event surpassed 100 thousand people from the million audience of Azerbaijani Facebook users.
The other interesting feature of the event was a very aloof manner of law-enforcement bodies. Probably the administration of the republican Interior Ministry decided not to stir up tension and meet the protest participants halfway, even though the meeting wasn’t authorized. There were no arrests until groups of the radical opposition began shouting political mottos. The ruling party Eni Azerbaijan welcomed a civilized character of the meeting and distant character of law-enforcement activities. The deputy executive secretary of the PEA, PM Mubariz Gurbanly said that the protest was finished peacefully, young people voiced their mottos and they were heard by the authorities. According to him, even though the meeting was spontaneous, the police treated the participants peacefully and professionally. Gurbanly said: “We have stated the position of our party on death of Dzheikhun Gubadov and expect finding those who are guilty. The republican prosecution is taking measures. As you know some people have already been punished.”
Of course political circles try to use social resonance in their own interests: there were representatives of both constructive and radical opposition at the demonstration. However, the most active participants of the protest on January 12 were not political parties, but youth organizations which do not represent any of traditional political forces in the country: the power and the opposition actually remained beyond the youth event.
What is more important is that the meeting didn’t cause any arrests. According to the new laws, all detained persons should pay a fee only. Therefore, the government of Azerbaijan can avoid criticism by the Western society in connection with arrests of meetings’ participants.
The most significant result of the social protest is a response by the government. Due to wide social resonance the case of recruit Gubadov wasn’t buried at the level of minor and medium bureaucrats. The Defense Ministry and the General Prosecution are seriously dealing with the guilty – some persons were arrested, others were reduced to a lower rank. No doubts, the problem of non-manual relations and negative incidents in army is not ended by the case of Gubadov, and it cannot be solved by punishment of several people. The government is preparing systemic steps at the legislative level: the age of recruits may be increased to 19 or 20 years. The proposal is based on the fact that the majority of 18-year old people is physically and psychologically unprepared and has no life experience. Governmental proposals will be presented to the parliament during this year. Whether these measures will be effective of not, time will tell, but it is clear that young people’s mottos won’t remain unheard.
