2024-04-01 21:29:09
An open letter to my dear daughter
My beautiful daughter Suad! I miss you so much. I haven’t been able to see you, hug you, or hear your laugh for more than 90 days. Because I and my friends – Sevinj Vagifgizi, Nargiz Absalamova, Elnara Gasimova, Mahammad Kekalov and Hafiz Babali were arrested for our journalistic activities.
My dear daughter, you are currently 1 year and 6 months old. When we were arrested, you were not yet walking. But a month ago, in one of our courts, my lawyer Ms. Zibeyda said that Suad has already started walking. Maybe it’s the most beautiful, the most favorite times. You have new facial expressions and new behaviors that should not see you. I wanted to see and experience these moments. That’s why I say “wished” because we were expecting to be arrested almost every day because we revealed and broadcast the facts of corruption that stole Azerbaijan’s present and future. And so it happened. We were arrested. Because Azerbaijan has become one of the most repressive countries in the world. Independent journalists operate under such threats and pressures in our country.
My dear daughter, I know that you are not old enough to read what I wrote today. I am also writing this so that you will forgive me for not being with you and that you will not blame me when you realize these events in the future.
Gozal Suad, most of the arrested employees of “Abzas Media” were isolated in the strictest form for 3 months. We were forbidden to meet our loved ones and even hear their voices on the phone. They didn’t even allow you, an 18-month-old child, to hug you for 5-10 seconds. Even now, I can’t hold you in my arms. The totalitarian Soviet regime has actually been restored in Azerbaijan, and the country is governed by Soviet thinking. Children are still punished for fathers and mothers, parents and family members for children. Our mothers’ pension cards, which are the only source of income, have been blocked, the bank accounts of our family members and friends have been frozen and they have been banned from leaving the country.
It is the first time in the history of Azerbaijan’s independence that a media organization has been subjected to such total repression due to its critical materials and research. Arresting us has not cooled their hearts, they are pressuring and punishing our family members and relatives, regardless of whether they are old or young, women or children, and they are trying to take revenge on us in this way. No such restrictions have been applied to those accused of terrorism, mass murder, and the most serious crimes. Every time we hear from the press that such and such a defendant has spoken with his relatives, and that such and such defendants have repeatedly made phone calls with their family members. But it’s as if we were sent to exile or a concentration camp, and our family members are punished and kept under pressure because of us.
My dear daughter, I could write this letter to you personally. But I thought it was important for today and history to broadcast it publicly. In the future, when you read this letter, you will understand more clearly how Azerbaijan has passed through a dark period.
That’s it for now, girl.
With love, Ulvi.
February, 2024