Repressions against the opposition led to the radicalization of relations with the authorities, Arif Mammadov

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- Who is guilty that emigrants from Europe use offensive language against our officials? How did the new political Azerbaijani emigration form? What is your attitude to the claims of the authorities and other proposals expressed at the conference in Baku?

- The conference was apparently organized for creating the appearance of a dialogue between the authorities and the opposition, and on the eve of the visit to Baku of the newly elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Lillian Mori Pascie. In addition, by all indications, the authorities are preparing for early parliamentary elections, before which they need to improve slightly their image in the eyes of international organizations. The authorities understand that the representatives of the so-called opposition present at the conference are not really such, and most importantly, they are not perceived by society as an opposition to the current authorities. In addition, the annoying statements made by government officials at the conference show her little interest in this dialogue. So, one of the main participants from the authorities, the Executive Secretary of the ruling "New Azerbaijan" Party Ali Akhmedov, threw a remark to the participants of the conference that, they say, let's quickly talk and go on business. Each of us has issues that are more serious. This is another confirmation that the conference was organized purely for show.

- The number of our compatriots in Europe is growing. For many years, they were rather passive, not showing much interest in political life in the country. Recently, a process of its political activity has been observed. Is there a connection between the political movements of Azerbaijanis and bloggers in Europe who sharply criticize and insult the authorities?

- You are right. The number of our compatriots in Europe is growing from year to year. This is due to both the deterioration of the economic situation in the country and the restrictions and gross violations of freedoms and human rights in the country. Despite the fact that some of our compatriots today remain politically passive, the situation has changed significantly lately. Several organizations have been created that are waging an effective and consistent political struggle for democratic change in Azerbaijan, and the AND (Movement for Democracy in Azerbaijan) takes the leading role among them.

On September 21, the next second congress of this Movement will be held in Frankfurt. Many well-known public figures in the country and abroad will take part in its work.

As for the exchange of "courtesies" between individual political emigrants on the one hand and freelance agents of the power structures on the other, these are completely different things. The process was primarily infected precisely by the authorities. The policy of dirty repressions against family members of political emigrants, their arrest, threats, and blackmail led to their natural radicalization. In addition, society has defended these bloggers. They became real heroes.

Today, the popularity of these bloggers is higher than the popularity of many representatives of pseudo-intelligentsia.

I assure you that 3.5 million Azerbaijanis in Russia and 2 million in other countries are more familiar with the names of Vidadi Iskanderov, Tural Sadikhly, and Ordukhan Teymurkhan than the names of the writer Anar or Chingiz Abdullayev. The authorities themselves are to blame for this too. Society is so radicalized and dissatisfied with the authorities that anyone who is attacked by the authorities automatically becomes a "national hero."

Today, there is not a single person in power who would enjoy any respect from society. The authorities definitely lost touch with the people. Today this gap is so big that even if the government really decides to engage in a dialogue with society, it will not accept it, because society is not ready for this. An arrogant attitude towards society, a constant lie, and a neglect of it led to such a result.