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Akram Aylisli left Azerbaijan
17:04, 26 April, 2013
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS: The author of `Stone Dreams' Akram
Aylisli left Azerbaijan, as reported by Armenpress, quoting the
Azerbaijani sources. It was reported that for several days Aylisli
does not answer the phone calls. His son said that the father left the
country, not mentioning in which country Aylisli is. Azerbaijani mass
media suppose that Akram Aylisli could leave to abroad to search for a
political shelter.
The book caused a lot of noise and hysteria in Azerbaijan. On February
7, 2013, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a
presidential decree that stripped Aylisli of the title of "People's
Writer" and the presidential pension. Earlier, Aylisli confirmed
reports that his son, a customs official, and wife were dismissed from
their jobs. Hafiz Haciyev, the leader of the pro-government political
party Muasir Musavat (Modern Equality), said his party would pay
$13,000 to anyone who would cut Aylisli's ear off.
Aylisli was born in the village of Aylis in 1937 in the Ordubad region
of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He received
his higher education at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in
Moscow. His first work, a poem entitled "QeĊ?em ve onun Kürekeni", was
published in the journal Azerbaycan. From 1968-70, he became the
editor-in-chief of Gençlik, and later worked as a satirist for the
journal Mozalan. From 1974-78, he served on the Azerbaijan SSR's State
Committee for Cinematography.
In late 2012 and early 2013, Aylisli found himself embroiled in
controversy when his novel, DaĊ? Yuxular (Stone Dreams), was published
in a Russian-language journal called Druzhba Narodov (Friendship of
the Peoples). Completed in 2007, the novel tells the story of two
Azerbaijani men and their efforts to protect their Armenian neighbors
during the Sumgait and Baku Pogroms in the closing years of the Soviet
Union. Many in Azerbaijan took offense to Aylisli's sympathetic
portrayal of Armenians, with whom they fought and lost a six year-long
conflict over control of the region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early
1990s.
The US Department of State, OSCE Baku Office and European Union
condemned the actions held in Baku against Akram Aylisli and appealed
to the Azerbaijani authorities to fulfill their obligations protecting
the writer.
`Stone dreams' was translated into Armenian as well.
17:04, 26 April, 2013
YEREVAN, APRIL 26, ARMENPRESS: The author of `Stone Dreams' Akram
Aylisli left Azerbaijan, as reported by Armenpress, quoting the
Azerbaijani sources. It was reported that for several days Aylisli
does not answer the phone calls. His son said that the father left the
country, not mentioning in which country Aylisli is. Azerbaijani mass
media suppose that Akram Aylisli could leave to abroad to search for a
political shelter.
The book caused a lot of noise and hysteria in Azerbaijan. On February
7, 2013, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a
presidential decree that stripped Aylisli of the title of "People's
Writer" and the presidential pension. Earlier, Aylisli confirmed
reports that his son, a customs official, and wife were dismissed from
their jobs. Hafiz Haciyev, the leader of the pro-government political
party Muasir Musavat (Modern Equality), said his party would pay
$13,000 to anyone who would cut Aylisli's ear off.
Aylisli was born in the village of Aylis in 1937 in the Ordubad region
of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He received
his higher education at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in
Moscow. His first work, a poem entitled "QeĊ?em ve onun Kürekeni", was
published in the journal Azerbaycan. From 1968-70, he became the
editor-in-chief of Gençlik, and later worked as a satirist for the
journal Mozalan. From 1974-78, he served on the Azerbaijan SSR's State
Committee for Cinematography.
In late 2012 and early 2013, Aylisli found himself embroiled in
controversy when his novel, DaĊ? Yuxular (Stone Dreams), was published
in a Russian-language journal called Druzhba Narodov (Friendship of
the Peoples). Completed in 2007, the novel tells the story of two
Azerbaijani men and their efforts to protect their Armenian neighbors
during the Sumgait and Baku Pogroms in the closing years of the Soviet
Union. Many in Azerbaijan took offense to Aylisli's sympathetic
portrayal of Armenians, with whom they fought and lost a six year-long
conflict over control of the region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early
1990s.
The US Department of State, OSCE Baku Office and European Union
condemned the actions held in Baku against Akram Aylisli and appealed
to the Azerbaijani authorities to fulfill their obligations protecting
the writer.
`Stone dreams' was translated into Armenian as well.