Three PFPA activists lose their jobs after oppositional rally in Baku

Two teachers and one employee of a private enterprise, who are activists of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA), have been dismissed from their jobs. They associate it with their opposition activities.

On April 27, Aflatun Akhmedli, the chairman of Neftchala District PFPA organization, was dismissed from his job at School No. 1 in the village of Mayak, where he was a physics teacher. On the same day, his wife, Ulker Akhmedli, a member of the PFPA, who worked as a Russian language teacher at School No. 3 in Neftchala, was also fired, Aflatun Akhmedli told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on April 28.

"Back on April 25, I was summoned to the district division of education and asked if I had participated in the rally in Baku on April 8, which was organized by the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF). I said that I hadn’t; then, I was asked to write this in an explanation; but I refused," he said.

On April 27, he and his wife were dismissed from their jobs.

"They persecute us for our political affiliation and views; this is aimed at weakening the activities of our organization in the Neftchala District," said Aflatun Akhmedli.

Ali Kerimli, the leader of the PFPA, has treated the dismissal of party activists as a new form of pressure on the PFPA.

"In this way they want to intimidate people so that they do not go to rallies," Mr Kerimli said.

He noted that the pressure is not only on public sector employees, but also on those who work at the private sector.

In particular, Ali Abdullaev, an activist of the PFPA organization in the town of Sheki, was dismissed from a private enterprise.

"After the rally, I was summoned to the police, where they asked why I had gone to the rally in Baku; they asked me, ‘Are you going to change the world, or what?" And this week I was fired from my job," Ali Abdullaev told the "Caucasian Knot".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.