Dustin Gilbreath

URGENT: Friends have lost contact with Ilkin Huseynov, contemporary artist and founder of this initiative. Unidentified individuals arrived at his address on Izzat Nabiyev Street around 4:00 PM. Before leaving the house with them, Ilkin grabbed his keys and signaled his friend to remain silent. His phone has been switched off since 4:00 PM, and it is impossible to reach him. I had sent a message via Facebook Messenger, and a short while ago, I saw a notification stating, "Ilkin Huseynov added a new device to this conversation." It appears his account has been compromised. We are worried about Ilkin. I am not currently in Azerbaijan; please inform his lawyer if he has one. This is the only information I have.

It happened. Azerbaijan's ruling party YAP (New Azerbaijan Party) — AKA Aliyev himself, publicly scolded its closest foreign sister party AK Parti of Turkey. I gathered the most interesting parts for you: 1. The admission that this has been going on for a while: NAP says it had long watched what it calls biased and slanderous coverage of Azerbaijan in Turkish media, including outlets close to the AKP, and stayed quiet out of respect for the partnership. What broke the silence was that Erdoğan's chief adviser Oktay Saral and AKP MPs joined in. 2. In the statement, Israel comes first, not the hijab: The statement leads by rejecting what it calls deliberate distortion of Azerbaijan–Israel relations, then lists Palestinian credentials, down to the claim that Palestine's embassy in Baku is funded by the Azerbaijani state. It explains the Turkish criticism earlier, which was bundled the two: hijab ban plus Israel ties equals "Baku is anti-Islamic." Aliyev clearly sees Israel as the more dangerous charge. 3. Aliyev takes a jab at Erdoğan's leadership of the Muslim world: It says no state in the Islamic world has the right to dictate to other Muslim peoples, interfere in their affairs, or see itself as superior, and that claims to serve Muslim unity must be shown through equal cooperation rather than hegemonic tendencies. Without naming him, that's aimed squarely at Erdoğan's self-image. 4. Anti-colonial rhetoric, against Turkey! The Azerbaijani people, it says, have always opposed imperialism, colonialism and neocolonial approaches. 5. The ruling party effectively confirms what Decision 309 is about: The decision never mentions the hijab. But here Aliyev, responding to criticism of the hijab ban, defends the education rules as based on equality and secularism, and warns against using "sensitive issues such as the headscarf" for political manipulation. 6. Aliyev throws Turkey's own history back at it: It notes that secularism is also in Turkey's constitution, and that Turkey's own religious-secular debates deepen polarisation there, a pointed reminder that the AKP's whole political rise was built on lifting Turkey's headscarf ban. 7. Aliyev insists the emphasis is on two independent states, and that the formula "one nation, two states" gives neither the right to interfere in the other's internal affairs or impose its ideological approaches. Coming from the party of Heydar Aliyev, who coined it, that's a notable redefinition by his son. 8. Most ironic thing is the statement claims freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed and that the state treats all religions equally, while in reality, no religion can exist without approval from The State Committee on Affairs with Religious Associations, just like in Soviet Union.