Azerbaijan: Army Hazing Scandal

As had been reported by a number of blogs such as Unzipped, videos of hazing in the Azerbaijani military appears to be genuine. It’s actually no surprise as the practice is common in most armies, but the extent and severity of it in countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia is considerable. Now, The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) has more details.

Two video-clips posted on the Internet showing brutality in the ranks of the Azerbaijani army have fueled allegations that hazing is rife, despite unprecedented increases on spending on the military in recent years.

Azerbaijani prosecutors have made arrests and launched an enquiry into the incidents recorded on the clips, after initially denying that they were authentic.

In one of the videos, recorded on a mobile phone, a soldier who has completed most of his military service – still known in Azerbaijan by the Russian word “dembel” – forces five younger conscripts into a contest in which they are forced to beat each other in pairs.

The video shows how one soldier has lost his hearing because of a sharp blow and is clutching his ears with pain on his face, while another has a big bruise on his face. The dembel watches them, laughing. The soldiers’ clothing suggests that all this is happening in a military hospital or in the medical facility of a military unit.

An earlier clip posted on YouTube on October 4 shows two dembels savagely beating 20 or 25 new recruits lined up in front of their beds in a barracks. The clip caused outrage and angry reactions in the Azerbaijani press.

The security agencies and military prosecutors began to investigate the incident and it was revealed that the clip had been filmed in an interior ministry forces unit in the Hajigabul region. This was confirmed to IWPR by the interior ministry press office.

Incidentally, when the videos surfaced on Unzipped, France 24 found them via Global Voices Online and mentioned both Unzipped and myself in a post made two weeks ago. The entry on the French TV station’s The Observers site is available in both French and in English.

Pour le blogueur “Unzipped”, un Arménien vivant à Londres, cette vidéo est un avertissement pour les autorités, qui devront dorénavant “gérer le problème de la violence au sein de l’armée”. Le porte-parole du ministère de la Défense, Eldar Sabiroghlu, cité par le site azéri Today.az, affirme toutefois que ce clip est monté de toutes pièces par des personnes déguisées en soldats. Il ajoute que ces images constituent une “provocation contre l’armée”. Un autre blogueur arménien, Onnik Krikorian, qui alerte sur cette vidéo sur le site GlobalVoices, affirme quant à lui ne pas croire la version officielle. Selon lui, cette vidéo est probablement véritable pour les raisons suivantes : “Les hommes portent bien des uniformes de l’armée azérie, ils se trouvent dans une pièce qui ressemble effectivement à un baraquement de soldats et qu’il serait difficile de ‘fabriquer’ ; les claques pourraient être fausses, mais les coups de pieds semblent particulièrement violents et difficiles à simuler. Je trouve donc particulièrement étrange la version officielle, selon laquelle ce ne serait même pas des soldats qui auraient tourné ces images. En niant tout en bloc, ils ne me semblent plus crédible.”