“The law enforcement and security agencies should study the recordiung in detail”

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Question: You probably listened to the audio recording of the late Colonel Babek Samidli. What do you think this audio recording is about? What does it shed light on?

Answer: Of course, I  have listened, and the facts that were voiced there were not a surprise to me, I have been writing and talking about this myself for many years. But, unfortunately, the voicing of these facts on our part,   and their repeated disclosure by a number of former servicemen remained unanswered. Despite the authenticity of this audio recording,  who and for what purpose  hast distributed it  raises many questions, and  testifies to many things. First of all, as I said, it again brought to the agenda a lot of facts that we have been talking about for years.  The  most important, significant of them is that an organized criminal group has been operating in the Ministry of Defense of the country for many years. A number of voiced facts testify that the activity of this criminal group is not limited to theft, corruption and bribery, it also consists in high treason. The thoughts voiced in it about the supply of the country's armed forces with ammunition directly indicate precisely this. There was nothing new for me here, because we have repeatedly stated that these facts, as well as the atrocities committed in Terter against the Azerbaijani Army, are clearly a betrayal of the Azerbaijani people and state. The  state of the Azerbaijani army  during the 44-day war was clear, but there is nothing surprising here either; it could not otherwise in the army, in whose leadership, corruption, bribery, localism, strife between groups, betrayal reigned for years.

Question: The death of Babek Samidli was also suspicious. The explosion of the colonel on a mine after the end of the war gave rise to many doubts about the accident of this death. The appearance of this audio recording further strengthened the suspicions. Are these suspicions groundless?

Answer: Yes, the doubts are quite reasonable, but to claim that they are connected with the distribution of the audio recording is to mislead. Because there are dozens of witnesses and evidence that Babek Samidli is one of the most active participants in the Terter crime and that after committing the crime, he tried to bribe the family members of his victims. His mysterious explosion on a mine was associated just with this.  However, now in social networks, a certain organized group is trying to deliberately mislead public opinion and through this incident (a blast on a mine - ed. note) to divert attention from the possible cause of death. Even now I  think that his death was connected precisely with participation in the Terter massacre. I think that in connection with the explosion of Babek Samidli on a mine, a special criminal case should be initiated, a comprehensive investigation should be carried out.

Question: Some people call this audio recording and its distribution a provocation against the army, Azerbaijan, and also Turkey. Is it correct to represent it this way?

Answer: Such perceptions are part of the erroneous approach, according to which, publicizing what is happening in the army damages the armed forces and the country's defense capability. One of the reasons for this approach is an attempt to hide  from the country’s public what is happening in the Ministry of Defense. One of the reasons, and perhaps the main  reason for what has been happening over the years in the Azerbaijan Army, is that it was out of public control. I do not see any provocation in this audio recording, on the contrary, I consider it expedient for the country's law enforcement and security agencies to conduct a thorough investigation, although I do not particularly count on this.

Question: Have any measures been taken in the army in connection with what Babek Samidli said in the audio recording? Or, should one  take action and punish someone?

Answer: No measures were taken, and on the contrary, after 44 days of war, corruption, arbitrariness, lawlessness in the actions of the army leadership increased even more.  If to believe the information that has come down to us, despite the numerous arrests of heads of financial institutions at various levels of the Ministry of Defense by law enforcement and security agencies of the country in recent months, the situation has not improved, but has even worsened. This means that the arrests and punishments were not carried out in full, that is, only the tail of the snake was trampled. Although not only punishments, but also a complete check of the activities of this structure and the immediate removal of its leadership from office have already become an urgent need. But here a rhetorical question arises: will there be dramatic changes even if these steps are taken? There is no positive answer to this question, because as a result of the purposeful activities of an organized group that seized the Ministry of Defense, a significant part of honest, educated, loyal to their convictions and devoted to their country professional officers were removed from the army in various ways.

Question: After the appearance of this audio recording, should we expect attacks from those against whom Babek Samidli complains?

Answer: There are people who believe that the distribution of this audio recording is in itself a message and a threat to political power. It can be seen that in the audio recording, one of the groups in the leadership of the Ministry of Defense is taken under special scope. For this reason, it can be assumed that the struggle between groups in the ministry will intensify. And here the political authorities and law enforcement agencies should say their word. In the context of a rapidly escalating geopolitical struggle at the global and regional levels, growing tensions and threats around Azerbaijan every day, entrusting the army to squabbling criminal groups whose service to the Azerbaijani state raises many questions means putting the country and people at serious risk.

In the current situation, it is vital that the country's armed forces be led only by proven personnel serving the national interests of the Azerbaijani state and people. But I am not sure that steps in this direction will be taken.

Question: Should the media body that distributed this recording expect any danger? What measures can the authorities take against this media body?

Answer: It is likely that these media structures will eventually become the target. Suffice it to recall the arrest and conviction on false charges of lawyer Ilham Aslanoglu, journalists Abid Gafarov and Avaz Zeynalli, Colonel Elnur Mammadov. Let me remind you that all of them were punished for publishing and exposing the crimes committed against the Azerbaijani Army. The General Prosecutor's Office, which arrested Avaz Zeynall for several hours for his cryptic audio recording containing no facts, has been "investigating" the massacre in Terter for 11 months. I can give many examples, but I don't think it's necessary, everything is clear to everyone. But it seems that the only one who does not know about the deplorable situation in the country's Armed Forces is the political leadership of Azerbaijan.