Emin Milli (Abdullayev) (born 14 October 1979) is an Azerbaijani human rights activist [1] who lives in Germany. [2] He used to be the managing director at Meydan TV until April 2019. [3] [4]
Emin Milli (Abdullayev) (born 14 October 1979) is an Azerbaijani human rights activist [1] who lives in Germany. [2] He used to be the managing director at Meydan TV until April 2019. [3] [4]
Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Milli was imprisoned in 2009 for two and a half years for his critical views about the government. He was conditionally released in November 2010, after serving 16 months of his sentence, in part due to strong international pressure on the government of Azerbaijan. From 2002-2004, Milli was director of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and also advised the Council of Europe on more than 40 cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, many of whom were released following pressure from the Council. Prior to that, he was a coordinator for the International Republican Institute in Azerbaijan. He studied at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where he wrote his dissertation on new media and Arab revolutions. [1]
Emin is currently a Founder and Managing Director of Restart Initiative and the Co-Founder of Daha Yaxşı, Restart Initiative's media project. [5]
On 8 July 2009, Milli and Adnan Hajizade were assaulted and severely beaten by two men in a restaurant in downtown Baku. [6] Milli and Hajizada went to file a complaint about the assault, but instead police detained them and opened a criminal case against both, who are charged with hooliganism. [7]
On 10 July 2009, Judge Rauf Ahmedov of the Sabail district court in Baku placed both of them in pretrial detention for two months. [8] [9] German Federal Commissioner for Human Rights Günter Nooke was in Baku during their trial and was the only one allowed to see Milli for a few minutes after being kept waiting. [10] Subsequently, a higher court rejected their appeal. [11]
Reporters Without Borders, [12] Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, [13] and European Union, [14] as well as a number of foreign countries[ which? ] strongly condemned Milli and Hajizade's arrest. The case prompted protests from 18 officials of the University of Richmond, where Hajizade had studied, [15] and from BP, where Hajizade worked. [16] Amnesty International designated Milli a prisoner of conscience. [17]
Investigation of Milli and Hajizade's case was concluded on 22 August 2009, and an additional charge was brought against them ("deliberately inflicting minor bodily harm"). [18] On 4 September 2009, Judge Araz Huseynov presided over the preparatory session where a variety of defense motions (including one to have the charges dropped, one to permit media coverage of the proceedings, and a motion to set the defendants free on bail for the duration of their trial) were denied. [19] [20] After two months of court hearings, both Milli and Hajizade were found guilty. Hajizade was sentenced two years in prison, and Milli was sentenced to two-and-a-half years of prison. [21]
US President Barack Obama called on his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, to free the imprisoned Milli and Hajizade when the two leaders had a bilateral meeting during the UN General Assembly session in New York on 24 September 2010. The US administration said Obama urged Aliyev to free the two men as part of an increased effort to protect human rights and implement democratic reforms. [22]
Milli was conditionally released in November 2010 and was not allowed to leave Azerbaijan until June 2011. [23] The New York Times covered some details of his life after his release. [24] He continued to be one of the most critical voices of dissent and campaigned internationally for release of all political prisoners in Azerbaijan. [25] [26] Milli addressed the President Aliyev during Internet Governance Forum in November 2012 with an open letter about the situation in Azerbaijan. The letter was published in The Independent, [1] Le Monde Blog, [27] Tagesspiegel, [28] Gazeta Wyborcza [29] and Radio Azadliq. [30]
Milli started a news portal, Meydan TV, in 2013, leaving the job in 2019.
He founded a new project called Restart Initiative focusing on creating platform for the representatives of Azerbaijani and Armenian public to meet and discuss coexistence, cooperation, business and neighborly relations. [31]
Emin visited Azerbaijan for the first time in 12 years in January 2025 and went to Karabakh. [32]
Rustam Mammad Ibrahim oghlu Ibrahimbeyov was a Soviet and Azerbaijani screenwriter, playwright and producer, well known beyond his home Azerbaijan and the former Soviet Union. He was the chair of the Cinematographers' Union of Azerbaijan and director of the Ibrus Theatre.
The National Assembly, also transliterated as Milli Mejlis, is the legislative branch of government in Azerbaijan. The unicameral National Assembly has 125 deputies: previously 100 members were elected for five-year terms in single-seat constituencies and 25 were members elected by proportional representation; as of the latest election, however, all 125 deputies are returned from single-member constituencies.
International organizations have frequently alleged that Azerbaijan has violated human rights standards established in international law.
The Azerbaijan State Oil Academy shooting occurred on 30 April 2009, at the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy (ASOA), a public university in Baku, Azerbaijan. Twelve people were killed by an armed assailant and several others were wounded. A joint statement by the Azerbaijan Interior Ministry and Prosecutor General's Office identified the perpetrator as 28-year-old Farda Gadirov, a Georgian citizen of Azerbaijani descent.
Baku Boulevard is a promenade established in 1909 which runs parallel to Baku's seafront. Its history goes back more than 100 years, to a time when Baku oil barons built their mansions along the Caspian shore and when the seafront was artificially built up inch by inch.
Azadliq Square, in Baku is the biggest city-centre square in Azerbaijan. It lies next to Baku Boulevard.
Adnan Hikmat oglu Hajizada is an Azerbaijani blogger and one of the founders of OL! Azerbaijani Youth Movement. He was employed as an internal communications officer at British Petroleum.
Major events of 2010 in Azerbaijan.
The 2011 Azerbaijani protests were a series of demonstrations held to protest the government of President Ilham Aliyev. Common themes espoused by demonstrators, many of whom were affiliated with Müsavat and the Popular Front Party, the main opposition parties in Azerbaijan, included doubts as to the legitimacy of the 2008 presidential election, desire for the release of political prisoners, calls for democratic reforms, and demands that Aliyev and his government resign from power. Azerbaijani authorities responded with a security crackdown, dispersing protests and curtailing attempts to gather with force and numerous arrests.
Khadija Rovshan qizi Ismayilova, alternatively spelled Ismailova, is an Azerbaijani investigative journalist and radio host who is currently working for the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, until recently as the host of the daily debate show İşdən Sonra. She is a member of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
Media freedom in Azerbaijan is severely curtailed. Most Azerbaijanis receive their information from mainstream television, which is unswervingly pro-government and under strict government control. According to a 2012 report of the NGO "Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS)" Azerbaijani citizens are unable to access objective and reliable news on human rights issues relevant to Azerbaijan and the population is under-informed about matters of public interest.
Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary were established a year after the former state's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
Meydan TV is a Berlin-based Azerbaijani non-profit media organization. Founded by dissident blogger and former political prisoner Emin Milli in 2013, Meydan TV publishes news in Azerbaijani, English, and Russian. In May 2013, Meydan TV announced plans for broadcasting simultaneously through the Turkish Türksat communications. The word "meydan" means town square in Azerbaijani.
Madina Giyasbeyli was an Azerbaijani educator, pedagogue, journalist and translator.
Shahriyar Majidzade is the founder of the newspaper Etatist and chairman of the National Idea Centre in Azerbaijan.
The Military Band Service of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the official military band service of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. It is part of the command structure of the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan.
Polad Israyil oghlu Hashimov was an Azerbaijani military officer, National Hero of Azerbaijan and a major general who served as the Deputy Commander and the Chief of Staff of the 3rd Army Corps of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.
2020 Baku Victory Parade was held on 10 December, in Azadliq Square, Baku, capital of Azerbaijan. It was held in honor of the Azerbaijani victory during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war, officially described as the Patriotic War in Azerbaijan. The parade was held with 3,000 military servicemen who distinguished themselves during the war marched alongside military equipment, unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft, as well as Armenian war trophies, and Turkish soldiers and officers, while navy vessels performed maneuvers in the nearby Bay of Baku, and jets and helicopters flew above the city. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a key ally of Azerbaijan in the war, also attended the military parade as part of a state visit to Baku.
The 2020 Azerbaijani protests, also known within Azerbaijan as the Karabakh March, were series of civil protests from 12 to 15 July in various cities and towns in Azerbaijan. They erupted during the Armenian–Azerbaijani border clashes, with the protestors demanding full-scale war with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Mahammad Hatami Tantekin was one of the leaders of the national liberation movement in Azerbaijan, the founder of the National Liberation Party and the Chanlibel organization.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)