u/Own-Base-7511

For many young Azerbaijanis, leaving the country to live a better life in Europe or the United States is a common goal. What are your specific reasons to leave Azerbaijan? Professional goals? Can't stand Azerbaijani society?

I've translated the famous article of scholar Alec Rasizade from Russian to English.

>Azerbaijan, in his view, is a classic Middle Eastern petrostate, which will eventually sink into its legitimate place among the impoverished Muslim nations with the end of the current oil boom, as is predetermined by its social system, form of government, national ideology and culture, endemic corruption and lack of industrial endowment. He insists that the first (1900–1920) and the second (2000–2020) Baku oil booms were just a deviation in Azerbaijan's natural, logical and historic path from a Soviet socialist republic to a Third world country.

The article accurately describes Azerbaijan's past, current and future trajectory. A useful resource for people studying Azerbaijan's oil dependence.

You may have heard of a popular conspiracy theory that Heydar Aliyev, the dictator of Azerbaijan, has actually died way before his actual death date of 12 December 2003. The theory claims that his body was kept in a freezer and his death was not revealed until after his son Ilham Aliyev managed to succeed him through the falsified 15 October 2003 presidential election. However, it doesn't sound logical. Heydar Aliyev underwent treatment in Cleveland since August 2003, and before that, in Ankara since May. If they really did supposedly hide his body in a freezer, wouldn't that require Turkish and Russian cooperation? Or, was his body frozen AFTER he died?

I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Nowadays, it seems like every second Azerbaijani woman has inflated lips, drawn angry eyebrows, botoxed cheeks, corrected nose and the exact same long haircut. Not only that, but everyone has the same fashion style and presentation. Why do every Azerbaijani woman look like Mehriban Aliyeva or Şəbnəm Tovuzlu?

This subreddit has become increasingly inundated with users who express pro-Aliyev, pro-YAP and anti-democratic views. They treat any criticism of the Aliyev regime as an attack on Azerbaijan itself and call domestic critics of YAP "secretly Armenian". When did this sub become a branch of Aliyev cultists? They now call even basic facts about modern-day Azerbaijan which negatively paint the ruling family "anti-Azerbaijani Western grant propaganda".

Azerbaijan has been ruled by Aliyevs since 1969/1993. While the Aliyev government managed to avoid antagonizing its neighbors (unlike Georgia or Armenia), restored territorial integrity, led an oil boom in the 2000s and early 2010s, increased Azerbaijan's prestige by hosting F1, COP29 and WUF, and created a somewhat stable society,

it still is marred by authoritarianism, low economic growth, crony capitalism and a general lack of opportunities.

Azerbaijan had two opposition generations: the "old guard" (AXC/Müsavat/AMİP) formed from the old Cəbhə government of 1992-93 which largely failed to challenge Aliyevs, and the "new generation" of ReAl and various NGOs that tried to change Azerbaijani society and culture first before creating a democratic society. They failed and were coopted by the government as well.

The opposition, despite its criticism of Aliyevs, is itself undemocratic, as AXC and Musavat don't have democratic leadership elections or proper discussions. Not only that, there isn't an opposition group in Azerbaijan that has either 1. meaningfully different platform from YAP other than "Aliyev bad" or 2. a functioning ideology and understanding of how to run a state.

With the opposition being crushed, divided, and incompetent, is there even an alternative to the rule of Aliyevs? It seems that all possible alternatives are just worse than the regime, either by incompetency or by radicalism (Islamists/pan-Turkists).