A man searches for belongings in the remains of his house in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region
Credit: ARIS MESSINIS /AFP
Azerbaijan is allegedly financing post-war reconstruction and aid efforts in Nagorno-Karabakh from state employee salaries without their consent, according to sources and local media reports.
The Caucasus country wrested the disputed region from its neighbour and enemy Armenia last autumn and has since pledged to pump millions into rebuilding infrastructure and homes in the war-scarred area and supporting the families of thousands of dead soldiers.
But instead of using state revenues, the government is allegedly taking cash directly from the pay packets of civil servants and people working for state-vrun companies without asking for their consent.
The Telegraph spoke to two people in Baku who claimed that since December they have had 10 percent deducted from their monthly salaries, without their permission, and given to charity.
Neither of the sources was prepared to be quoted, even anonymously, but other online reports on social media and local news outlets corroborated the information. These online reports said that some workers at state-run companies had lost half their salaries to the charities.
Thanks to significant oil reserves, Azerbaijan had a GDP of $48 billion in 2019. It is not clear why it would be taking money from salaries for charities.
Ethnic Armenian soldiers destroy power poles in territory in Nagorno-Karabakh which is soon to be turned over to Azerbaijan
Credit: STRINGER /REUTERS
Commentators in Azerbaijan are split on the government’s alleged strategy to enforce public donations. Some have said that it is the duty of civil society to support veterans of the war and to rebuild the region, but others disagree.
"This is fundamentally wrong," said Anar Mammadli, a human rights activist and critic of the Azerbaijani government. "It is not the job of the state and it should be left to civil associations. Here we see obsolete methods that remain from Soviet times."
However, a spokesperson for YASHAT, one of the new charities in Azerbaijan that is raising money for soldiers’ families, denied that anybody had been forced to give it money.
"No-one can force employees to donate to the fund. Payments to the YASHAT fund are made on a voluntary basis," he told media.
The allegations could prove to be a stumbling block for Azerbaijan’s longtime president, the tall, moustachioed Ilham Aliyev.
Mr Aliyev took over from his father, Heydar Aliyev, in 2003 in what was described as the first dynastic handover of power in the former Soviet Union.
For My Aliyev, victory in the six-week war last year, which killed an estimated 6,000 people, secured his legacy and avenged the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
A flag-waving patriotic fervour has gripped Azerbaijan since a peace treaty was signed in November that humiliated Armenia by forcing it to withdraw from most of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The conflict has transformed Mr Aliyev, who had been derided for his crackdowns on media and for his opulent lifestyle, into a fearless war hero.
Mr Aliyev has promoted his associates and family as a cornerstone of the Azerbaijani political and business systems including making his wife, Meribhan Aliyeva, the vice-president. Human rights workers complain that freedom of expression is severely limited and that corruption and nepotism are rampant.
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