Your trusted source

A former investigator of the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan, Ramin Nagiyev, who currently lives in France, told the Russian service of the Azerbaycan Saati radio in a video interview, why he does not publish sensational exposing articles in the media any more, and why he had to leave Azerbaijan. 

The expert notes that while in emigration, he exposed cases of innocently condemned people during the period of his service in the Ministry of National Security from 1992 to 1999, and he sent letters and appeals both to the president and to the parliament representatives with the request to address the problem of the innocent. However, his appeals did not receive the necessary attention. That is why, he had to publish all his disclosed cases in the media for the Azerbaijani public to get acquainted with them. For example, he wrote about the crimes committed by several high-ranking officials, with whom he had come across during the investigation of a number of criminal cases. 

Nagiyev was dismissed on December 5, 1999, on his birthday. In 10 days, he had to leave his country, because he “had first-hand knowledge about the Azerbaijani special services’ methods of work.” In Moscow, an attempt was made to kidnap him because he had started to publish the exposing articles there, and because his appeal had been given to the then president Heydar Aliyev. He says that after the incident, “several people's” reaction immediately followed. It was not safe to stay in Moscow any more, and Nagiyev had to emigrate to France with his family.

He thinks that the dissolution of the Ministry of the National Security and the creation of two subdivisions on its base was a mistake, especially, in war conditions. According to him, the dissolution of the National Security Service started back in the years of the Azerbaijani Popular Front Party’s ruling. As for the corruption in the national security system, Nagiyev notes that it existed before the former head of Ministry of National Security, Eldar Mahmudov. However, the situation worsened when he took the position of the minister: a criminal syndicate was formed there.

“The security of the country depends on a specially created structure, which provides security both for the nation and for the president. But how can they prevent the threats, when everything can be bought and sold?” the expert wonders.

Nagiyev says that he had tried to deliver much information to the official Baku through his friends before Mahmudov was deposed from his position, however, everything leaked and did not reach the addressee, or nobody paid any attention to that. As for the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and his family’s Panama offshore scandal, he notes that, in reality, the journalists did not carry out any investigation. “It was an information outflow from Azerbaijan, from the president’s surroundings and his close friends. It did not even happen now; back in 2008, that information was received by the security services of foreign states, which later spread it through journalists,” the former investigator of the Ministry of the National Security emphasizes adding that therefore, there could be no question about security, as they could not even keep secret the information about the president and his family’s financial activities.

In this regard, he highlights that the whole world looks for the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s resources, but does not manage to find them. According to Nagiyev, even if they exist, they are safely concealed, as the security works effectively there. “The president is the first official figure of the country. Everything, which is connected with him, has to be kept secret, however, in our country, such information is sold and transmitted outside the country,” the expert highlights.

Nagiyev reminds that when Eldar Mahmudov was the head of the special services, he ran a big business in Dubai, and he manages it till now, however, people are afraid to speak about it in Baku. “It is like manna from heaven for foreign countries’ special services in order to keep the Azerbaijani security minister under their thumb,” he adds.

As for the latest escalation of the Karabakh conflict, the former investigator of the Ministry of National Security assures that pressure will be imposed on the Azerbaijani president and his surroundings connected with the agreements over the NKR.

In addition, he notes that back in 2010, young men were calmly and publicly “caught” in Azerbaijan, and sent to Syria through Turkey. According to him, young men were recruited from practically every northern region of Azerbaijan, and the Ministry of National Security "pretended not to see that.”

The former national security investigator also notes that in 2013, the Turkish media published the photos of dead Azerbaijani fighters, and according to him, there were no less than 500 of them at that time. “And how many people fought there?” Nagiyev wonders noting that he published articles about that, however, they were also ignored.

“I saw groups of trained young men, who came back to Azerbaijan through Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia in 2014 and 2015. I met and talked with some of them. I learnt how those men were recruited, how they were financed, and how easily they were sent (to Syria),” the expert says.

He adds that in the beginning of 2014, there were rumors that a whole bus of people, who wanted to go to the new Muslim “Promised Land” without documents, left Azerbaijan taking them with their families, wives. They were stopped at the border and were not allowed to pass, however, soon there was a call from Baku, and they were let to pass by. “What was that? Was it an intended silence or did the recruiters make money in that manner?” Nagiyev wonders.

In his opinion, that sector was supervised by the Ministry of National Security. “The state officials were paid 50 thousands manats each from the Salafi community. The Baku mayor’s son, who is currently hiding in Turkey, was directly involved in those communities’ activities,” he says.

“If I knew about it living in France, it means that the Ministry of National Security either turned a blind eye to that or was an accomplice. And only when the number of Azerbaijani victims grew, many people started to lay down their arms and return to Baku. However, in Baku, they were arrested and imprisoned under various pretexts,” Nagiyev points out.

The former investigator of the Ministry of National Security claims that it is impossible to cross the border of a foreign state without documents if the special services do not intervene. He also states that the especially talented young people are sent to a separate base, where they are taught the art of recruitment, and sent back to Baku. The others are sent to fight like cannon fodders. He adds that nobody knows how many recruiters are freely acting in Baku now. All the journalists, who tried to raise that issue, got into trouble.

“For whom do they prepare that? For what? Who prepares that? And against whom will they fight? These are the questions the authorities themselves cannot answer,” Ramin Nagiyev sums up.

On 17 October 2015, President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, signed a decree to dismiss the Minister of National Security, Eldar Mahmudov Ahmad oglu, from his post. Reportedly, an investigation revealed that a group of high-ranking officials had been engaged in criminal actions against entrepreneurs for a long period and gained millions. The activities of the Azerbaijani business elite and well-known representatives of medium-sized business were surveilled with audio spying equipment on Minister Eldar Makhmudov’s order. The MNS generals took an active part in the process. Later, discrediting material was specially filed against those businesspersons, and consequently, the snatch squad of the MNS conducted illegal arrests of businesspeople on the leadership’s order. On December 14 of the same year, by the order of the Azerbaijani president, the State Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service were created on the base of the Ministry of the National Security.

According to Azerbaijani media reports, the former minister of the National Security Eldar Mahmudov is not arrested yet despite the existence of weighty arguments, as there are serious doubts that he and the network led by him delivered valuable information and facts abroad.