Nakhichevan residents report tightening of police activity because of anti-government leaflets

According to local residents, a state of emergency was tacitly introduced in Nakhichevan. That was caused by distribution in the city of leaflets with threats to regional authorities.

A month ago, the streets of Nakhichevan faced leaflets, reading: "It is your end! You will soon go away!" The leaflets were signed on behalf of some organization called "Patriotic Brothers". They are distributed mainly in the inner areas of the city with no cameras of video surveillance.

Streets and roads are patrolled by traffic police and staff members of other police units in civilian clothes. Within residential areas, the number of people in civilian clothes also increases significantly. They stop everyone who seems to them suspicious.

Most of all, young men and middle-aged men attract police attention. Nakhichevan residents say that they are concerned about the uncertainty in connection with the situation.

"It was about midnight, when I was returning home from my sister's place. Two men, dressed in civilian clothes, stopped me and began to ask, from where I was going and why I was still not at home. They told me to go home and not to go out at nights anymore," the "Caucasian Knot" was told by Khikmet Gasanov, a 49-year-old resident of Nakhchevan.

The most active citizens are summoned to the police station and interrogated there.

"I was asked whether I knew about the leaflets, distributed in the city. I said that I saw nothing of that sort and heard about that from the conversations of people around me. At the police station, I realized that a lot of leaflets were collected the city. The leaflets contain threats to local authorities," the "Caucasian Knot" was told by Ilham Sadygov, a local resident.

One of the local residents, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that a policeman pulled out of his hands a leaflet, when he was reading it.

When asked to comment on the situation, a staff member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Nakhchevan Autonomous Republic (NAR) told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent: "It is the police's duty to protect the public order in any situation, and in Nakhichevan, this task is performed with dignity."