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Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli was detained in Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport and taken to the police department on the airport shuttle, Turan news agency reports.

According to the writer’s wife, on March 30, at 5:11 a.m. local time, Aylisli together with his elder son Ilias was to fly to Venice to participate in an international literature festival, but the frontier guards did not allow him to pass stating that his departure was prohibited. 

Akram Aylisli is national writer (since 1998) and Honored Artist of Azerbaijan, holder of the highest order of Azerbaijan “Istiglal” (2002) and the order of “Shokhrat” for his outstanding merits in the literature of Azerbaijan. In the beginning of 2013, on the website of Russian magazine “Friendship of Nations” was published his novel titled “Stone Dreams” in which the author describes the massacres of Armenians in Baku in 1990 and in Nakhichevan in 1919. The author in his novel speaks positively about the Armenian people and their culture.

The novel “Stone Dreams” also contains criticism over the former Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev and the tyranny of the system created by him. After publication of the novel, Aylisli was exposed to severe pressures in Azerbaijan; the pro-governmental youth held rally in front of his house, his issue was discussed in the parliament of Azerbaijan, MPs suggested to burn his books and to deprive him of citizenship and deport from Azerbaijan. Many people “blamed” Aylisli in his Armenian origin, etc.

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev deprived him of personal pension and the title of National Writer, and accused him of “purposefully distorting the history of Azerbaijan” and “in distorting realities about history of Azerbaijan in an inappropriate way.” The leader of the pro-governmental party ”Modern Musavat” Hafis Hajiyev announced that he would pay about 10 Euros to the one who will cut the ear of the writer. Only after the intervention of the media, the politician was “warned” by the Interior Ministry of Azerbaijan about the illegality of such appeals. The U.S. Department of State and the OSCE Office in Baku condemned persecution of Aylisli in Azerbaijan and called on the authorities to fulfill their obligations.