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Azerbaijani prose writer Akram Aylisli, who was detained in Baku Heydar Aliyev International Airport on 30 March in the morning, was released, according to Haqqin.az.

The writer said he had been departing to take part in an event abroad but he was prohibited to. “There was no incident during the detention. I suggested them to send me on another flight, still they did not do that,” Aylisli said.

According to Turan news agency, a representative of the press-service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan was earlier told that Aylisli was detained because of “conflicting with the customs officers.”

Turan argues that the writer’s detention is a proof that the authorities have not forgiven him for writing The Grand Traffic Jam, a trilogy exposing the Soviet and modern political morals of Azerbaijan. A prophet writer, Aylisli still then tried to send a signal that the authoritarian government system, which was being built in Azerbaijan, was moving towards a dead end. Hence the name of the trilogy, The Grand Traffic Jam, which consists of three novels – Yemen, The Grand Traffic Jam and Stone Dreams.

The writer started to be openly hounded after the Stone Dreams was published in the December 2012 issue of Druzhba Narodov (“Friendship of Peoples”), a Russian magazine. The novel narrates the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations through the prism of the reasoning of the main hero, an Azerbaijani intellectual. It was the Stone Dreams that was called a “pro-Armenian” narration and used for chasing Aylisli for the entire trilogy. His critics were not so diligent in mentioning its first two parts.

The hounding was reportedly unlashed on 1 February 2013 with the writer’s obstruction in the parliament, where he was accused of treason. On the same day, the youth wing of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan party held a campaign titled “The Funeral of Akram Aylisli’s book” in front of the writer’s house. On 7 February, President Ilham Aliyev divested him of the title of National Writer. The scientific religious council of the Muslims Spiritual Board issued a statement blaming the writer in insulting the best feelings of the Azerbaijani people. For his part, Hafiz Hajiyev, the odious leader of the pro-government Modern Musavat Party, announced a 10-thousand-manats award to the one who would cut off the writer’s ear.

All the state-owned or pro-governmental media outlets conducted an organised insults-and-libel campaign against Aylisli. His wife and sons were fired from work. The reprisal against the living classic of the Azerbaijani literature, Akram Aylisli, shocked with its sophisticated cruelty, Turan writes.

Back then, Thomas de Waal, a British journalist and specialist of Caucasus, who investigates the Karabakh conflict, called the publishing of the Stone Dreams a courageous act. “He wrote this not as a politician or a journalist, but as an artist and a writer. He expressed his vision in an artistic work. He said the society in which we live is also doing bad, so we are responsible for it, and it must be admitted,” he said as cited by Turan.
In addition, an international group of university professors and rectors nominated Akram Aylisli for Nobel Peace Prize in February 2014.

Meanwhile, the Civil Society Defence Committee released a statement condemning Aylisli’s detention and calling the actions of the customs service and the police an infringement of the citizens’ freedom of movement, Turan reports.

According to the report, Aylisli had not been informed earlier about the travel ban, and no legal restrictions of movement had been imposed on him. It is highlighted that the Internal Ministry’s claim about Aylisli being detained because of “conflicting” with the border guards rises serious doubts.

In this regard, the Committee calls for a publication of the moment of Aylisli’s contact with the customs service and his transportation to the police recorded with the airport outdoor surveillance cameras.

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.