“GEGHARD”
SCIENTIFIC ANALYTICAL
FOUNDATION
2025
2025
On May 20, 2025, the Court of Grave Crimes in the Azerbaijani city of Lankaran sentenced Igbal Abilov, an ethnic Talysh and editor-in-chief of the Herald of the Talysh National Academy, to 18 years in prison on charges of high treason, collaboration with the Armenian intelligence service, making public calls against the state on behalf of foreign organizations or their representatives, and inciting national, racial, social, or religious hatred.
Who is ethnic Talysh, citizen of Azearbaijan Igbal Abilov?
Since early childhood, he has lived in Belarus, where he graduated from the Faculty of International Relations at the local state university. He has taught at the Belarusian State University and the Belarusian Institute of Law. He is also the editor-in-chief of the Herald of the Talysh National Academy, considered the first international academic publication dedicated to the comprehensive study of the Talysh people.
The State Security Service of Azerbaijan detained Abilov on July 22, 2024, in the Talysh-inhabited village of Bala Kolatan. He was initially accused of collaborating with the security services of Armenia. The scholar was blamed for “secret negotiations and deals” with Armenian scholars via Skype.
Prior to his arrest, Abilov was interrogated by officers of Azerbaijan’s State Security Service on June 22, 2024. On June 27, his passport and phones were confiscated at Baku Airport, and he was prohibited from leaving the country. On July 22, 2024, Abilov was summoned again to the SSS office in the Masalli district under the pretext of retrieving his belongings. However, without informing his family, he was taken to Baku. After contacting the Azerbaijani Ombudsman, his parents were informed that Abilov was suspected of violating several articles of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code.
On July 24, 2024, Baku court ruled a four-month pre-trial detention for Igbal Abilov, without the possibility of contact with his family throughout the investigation. His lawyer was prohibited from sharing any documents related to the case. On July 31, 2024, an appeal against the detention order was rejected, and on August 7, a request to lift the ban on meetings and phone calls with family was denied.
In court, Abilov denied all charges brought against him, stating that he had engaged exclusively in academic work and had not committed any of the crimes attributed to him, he studied the ethnic origins and historical roots of the peoples of Azerbaijan, the entire South Caucasus, Iran, and Turkey. According to Abilov, the case materials contain no sufficient evidence of any criminal activity, and the accusations are based on subjective assumptions and interpretations.
In prison, the scholar made an address in Talysh and Azerbaijani: “My heart is free… Always stay free and smiling. Knowledge and inner freedom are stronger than any Gulag.” In his letter, he expressed gratitude to all supporters and those fighting for justice, noting that he is not the only person imprisoned in Azerbaijani prisons because of their ethnic identity and beliefs.
The criminal prosecution of I. Abilov has caused a stir even beyond Azerbaijan. In support of him, protest demonstrations have taken place in Vilnius, The Hague, Warsaw, and Strasbourg. International human rights organizations, the Public Council of Talysh in Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani “Committee of Solidarity for Justice,” and Talysh organizations in Russia expressed their support for Abilov. The “Union for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan” has recognized I. Abilov as a political prisoner. His case has been raised in the PACE, the Council of Europe, and the US Congress.
There are public initiatives demanding the release of Abilov. According to his relatives, he was detained on false charges, and the real reason for his persecution is his research on national minorities, including the Talysh people. His lawyer maintains that Abilov had no conversations, agreements, or discussions of any other nature with Armenian specialists.
According to activists, the criminal prosecution of Abilov is an act of revenge for his advocacy for the rights of the Talysh people—or possibly for his neutral stance during the Karabakh conflict and his opposition to sending Talysh men to the frontlines. Notably, the charge of treason has become a common practice used by Azerbaijani authorities to suppress activists from national minority groups.
On May 23, 2025, Azadeh Rojhan, the PACE rapporteur on political prisoners, condemned the verdict against I. Abilov. According to her, the charges are factually based on his professional contacts with Armenian scholars. It was emphasized that Abilov, a historian and ethnographer, had conducted research on the history and culture of the Talysh people. Rojhan called on the Azerbaijani authorities to immediately review the charges brought against the scholar and to immediately release him.
The case of I. Abilov is a vivid example of the Azerbaijani authorities' intolerant attitude toward the Talysh and other national minorities, as well as a clear case of “political persecution” — a concern repeatedly raised by both international bodies and Talysh organizations. In its 2021 report, the Talysh Public Council of Azerbaijan (ATİŞ) stated that “the Talysh people are not recognized by the Azerbaijani government. The latter pursues a policy of assimilation of the Talysh people.” The Council condemned the Azerbaijani government for violating the rights of the Talysh people, including the use of the Talysh language, the preservation of their identity, and the right to education in their native language.
According to Abilov’s academic advisor, Roza Turarbekova, Baku’s interest in Igbal is linked to his interest in the Talysh ethnic group—specifically, his concern for preserving their heritage, his publication of a journal, his collection of folklore, his documentation of repression against the Talysh during the Soviet and post-independence periods, as well as his fieldwork in anthropology and ethnography.
Baku’s crackdown on young journalists, scholars, activists, and lawyers is driven by the regime’s increasing authoritarian tendencies. According to Azerbaijani human rights defenders, more than 350 political prisoners were recorded in the country at the beginning of 2025.
Currently, there are around 1.5 million Talysh people worldwide. In Azerbaijan, official data estimates their number at approximately 112,000, while other sources suggest over 400,000 to 600,000. For decades, the issue of Talysh rights and culture has remained a sensitive topic for the Azerbaijani authorities. Back in 1993, a short-lived Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic was established in the southern part of Azerbaijan. After the arrest of its leaders, the movement was suppressed; however, Baku has continued to exert pressure on Talysh activists and cultural figures to this day, often accusing them of “treason.”
In 2020, Talysh historian and activist Fahraddin Abbasov died in prison after serving a 16-year sentence on similar charges. In 2021, Talysh blogger Aslan Gurbanov was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of “inciting national hatred.” In 2024, Azerbaijani authorities also arrested Talysh writer Bahruz Samadov and activist Mirhafiz Jafarzadeh—known for advocating the creation of Talysh-language school textbooks—on charges of treason.
Another noteworthy case is the disappearance of historian Zahirraddin Ibrahimov in Yekaterinburg, Russia, who is the head of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of National Minorities of Azerbaijan, and had participated in conferences in Yerevan and Shushi. On May 26, 2025, Azerbaijani sources reported that the Talysh activist—who had been expelled from the country in the early 2000s—was abducted by the State Security Service of Azerbaijan, taken to Baku, and is reportedly being held in the same cell as members of the leadership of Artsakh.
Despite Ilham Aliyev’s statements on the international stage portraying Azerbaijan as a “bastion of tolerance and peaceful coexistence,” the Azerbaijani authorities continue to restrict and repress the Talysh people also neglecting Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.