Customs officers let oppositionist's books into Azerbaijan

Today, the customs service decided to let in the monograph on the role of Joseph Stalin in Soviet-Turkish relations, which was detained on June 7, Jamil Hasanli, the author of the book, has stated. He believes that  the rapid resolution of the issue was facilitated by wide media publicity.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Jamil Hasanli, the leader of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) of Azerbaijan, ordered several copies of his monograph "Stalin and the Turkish Crisis During the 1945-1953 Cold War" from the USA. However, on June 7, the customs detained the books. Mr Hasanli treated the customs' actions as the "illegal use of censorship."

"Today, they called from UPS service and asked me where I'd like the three copies of the book delivered; I called the address; and the books were delivered. Yesterday, I was told at the customs that they should read them. Apparently, they have special talents for quick reading, as they coped with a 500-page book within 24 hours. I am glad that I helped to educate customs officers," Jamil Hasanli told ironically the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to his story, the rapid resolution of the issue was facilitated by the disclosure by him of "an absurd decision to detain books for censorship."

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