Leyla Yunus, founder and director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and her husband, historian Arif Yunus - both outspoken critics of the government - have been detained since summer 2014 when they were arrested on charges of treason and fraud. Given his government’s lack tolerance for dissent, this clearly isn’t the case. President Ilham Aliyev’s government has long claimed that “ all freedoms are guaranteed in Azerbaijan“. The award-winning journalist was detained on 5 December 2014 and eventually convicted of libel, tax evasion and illegal business activity.

Little over a week ago, Azerbaijan held a parliamentary election while an estimated 20 prisoners of conscience sat in prison. Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who was sentenced to seven years and six months in jail in September for exposing state corruption, is one of them. As Index on Censorship has been reporting, the country has experienced an unprecedented crackdown on human rights and freedoms. However, there is an illusion of material progress in Azerbaijan. It boasts a 98.8% literacy rate, and since the early 2000s spending on education has increased five-fold, for example. Sure, the country has made some significant strides since the collapse of communism. It stands for progress, modernisation and democracy.īut Azerbaijan’s status as a modern democracy is less than convincing. The red stripe in the middle, however, is problematic. The blue stripe stands for the Turkish origin of Azerbaijani people and the green stripe at the bottom expresses affiliation to Islam. The tricolour consists of three horizontal stripes, each being deeply symbolic. While the flag underwent a hiatus while Azerbaijan was part of the Soviet Union between 19, it is now a proud symbol of the country’s independence. It flies on a pole 162 meters high and measures 70 by 35 meters. The flag hoisted in the capital city of Baku was once confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records as being the tallest in the world. Last Thursday was the annual commemoration of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot and yesterday the UK fell silent to pay tribute to its war dead on Remembrance Sunday.Ī much lesser-known date - at least to anyone outside Azerbaijan - is the country’s Flag Day, the celebration of the tricolour which was first adopted as the national flag on 9 November 1918. November is a month of historical anniversaries.

Illusion games 2015