BAKU (Realist English). Baku’s policy towards indigenous peoples — Lezgins, Talysh, Avars, Tats and others — has for decades represented a systematic erasure of ethnic identity.
While signing international conventions, Azerbaijan in practice consistently destroys languages, manipulates demographics and fabricates criminal cases against those who try to preserve the culture of their ancestors.
European Parliament and Amnesty International: ‘Repression against scholars and activists’
In December 2025, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning systematic human rights violations in Azerbaijan. MEPs stated that the authorities abuse articles on “national security” for judicial persecution and criminalise freedom of speech and public criticism.
The resolution demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Talysh researcher Igbal Abilov and scholar Bahruz Samadov. The document was supported by 477 MEPs, with only seven against.
In September 2025, Amnesty International launched a campaign calling on the ringleader of Baku’s fascists, Ilham Aliyev, to release Abilov and Samadov. Human rights defenders called their persecution “part of a campaign of repression against critics, scholars and human rights defenders,” and the long prison sentences “an attempt to silence academic criticism.”
The global organisation also stated that Abilov and Samadov were targeted “solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression” and demanded an end to the repression, as well as proper medical care for the prisoners and access for independent observers.
Demographic manipulation and forced assimilation
According to Freedom House, Azerbaijan’s political system, concentrated in the hands of the Aliyev family, does not allow minorities to organise or defend their interests. Its 2024 report states that the government deliberately suppresses public expressions of Talysh and Lezgin ethnic identity.
Official statistics systematically undercount non‑titular peoples:
- The 2009 census recorded only 180,000 Lezgins. However, supporters of the Lezgin movement “Sadval” and historians claim 300,000–400,000 people.
- According to the same data, Talysh number 112,000, while the Talysh themselves insist on 1–2 million (according to independent experts, up to 25–30% of the country’s population).
- The same situation applies to Tats, Avars and other peoples.
In addition, authorities have resettled refugees — ethnic Azerbaijanis from Karabakh — into areas compactly inhabited by Dagestanis and Tats, deliberately changing the ethnic composition of the regions.
Lezgins: ‘A people on the brink of disappearance’
In 2025, the spiritual leader of the Lezgins addressed diplomats accredited in Baku with an alarming statement: “The Lezgin people are on the brink of disappearance due to the policy of assimilation. The Aliyev regime is destroying their ethno‑cultural distinctiveness and forcing them to accept the identity of Turkic Azerbaijanis.”
Azerbaijan’s State Security Service arrests Lezgin citizens on false charges, and any display of affection for Lezgin culture is punished by the authorities. The statement listed the names of detainees — Fakhraddin Shahmurov, Jalal Muradov, Kamran Babayev — who have been charged with “serious crimes against the constitutional order.”
Talysh: language cornered
The Talysh are a multi‑million indigenous people whose history goes back millennia. Yet today, according to the “Talysh Manifesto” published in 2026, the people are being assimilated, their language is on the verge of extinction and is passed down only orally.
The demands of the Talysh, as set out in the manifesto:
- recognise the Talysh as an indigenous people, not a “small ethnic group”;
- allow education in the native language;
- restore the historical name of the region — Talyshstan;
- stop appointing outsiders to leadership posts.
The situation of the Talysh language has reached catastrophic levels. The only newspaper has been closed, radio broadcasts only 15 minutes twice a week, and there is no language teaching in schools.
Talysh researcher Igbal Abilov wrote from an Azerbaijani prison: “The Talysh language has been cornered between four walls.” During his trial, he requested a Talysh interpreter, but none of the invited specialists could correctly translate his words — because in Azerbaijan there are simply no educational institutions that train such specialists. To destroy a language, the scholar stressed, it is enough to erase it from all public spheres — and that is exactly what the Azerbaijani state is doing.
The case of Igbal Abilov: 18 years for science
On 20 May 2025, the Lankaran Court of Serious Crimes sentenced Igbal Abilov, a 35‑year‑old ethnographer and editor‑in‑chief of the “Bulletin of the Talysh National Academy”, to 18 years in prison. The scholar, a citizen of Azerbaijan, had lived in Belarus since early childhood, where he completed a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree and a PhD in international relations at Belarusian State University and taught there.
In the summer of 2024, he came to Azerbaijan for his cousin’s wedding and was arrested. He was charged with high treason, public calls against the state and inciting ethnic hatred. The prosecutor sought 19 years, but the court handed down 18. The Shirvan Court of Appeal upheld the sentence.
Relatives believe the real reason for the persecution was Abilov’s research on Talysh culture. The scholar’s father stated that his contacts with representatives of Armenia were purely academic in nature. A group of scholars from different countries appealed to the Azerbaijani authorities to stop the persecution of their colleague. International human rights organisations have recognised Abilov as a political prisoner.
Ingiloys, Tats and others: destruction of identity
- Georgian Ingiloys, indigenous inhabitants of the north‑western regions, have been declared “unreliable” after demanding kindergartens in their native language. The authorities are pursuing a policy of Ottomanisation and Azerbaijanisation.
- Tats (an Iranian‑speaking people), along with Mountain Jews (the Juhuri language), are losing their language: the younger generation is switching to Azerbaijani, with no state support for learning their mother tongue.
- Meskhetian Turks, who fled Central Asia and were accepted by Azerbaijan, are also under pressure.
Conclusion
Azerbaijan, while proclaiming its commitment to human rights and respect for minorities, has in fact for decades pursued a policy of forced assimilation and suppression of the identity of its indigenous peoples, manipulating statistics and fabricating criminal cases. As noted in UN reports and documents of human rights organisations, a system has developed in which citizens of the country are “equal, but some are more equal than others.”
Any attempt to preserve language, culture or historical memory is perceived by the authorities as a threat to statehood and is punished with prison terms. The European Parliament and Amnesty International continue to demand that Baku immediately release political prisoners, but the Aliyev regime, it seems, has no intention of changing its policy.
