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Born at a time of great social turbulence and crisis in early 20th century, the International Women’s Day inherited a tradition of protest, political activism and solidarity. The women all over the world celebrate the women’s day on the 8-th of March and focus on their equality and full participation. The theme of International Women´s Day for 2006 is “Women in decision-making: meeting challenges, creating change”. (09-MAR-2006)
 

Three unidentified men abducted a reporter Fikret Huseynli from the Azerbaijani opposition newspaper Azadlig on Sunday night, beating him, breaking some of his fingers, and slashing him. The attack on the journalist was likely related to his work, as he recently received several anonymous telephone threats after writing articles on bribe-taking among senior government officials and criminal activities involving wealthy business people. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the authorities to undertake a through and impartial investigation. (07-MAR-2006)
 

Though one year passed since the murder of the journalist of Elmar Huseynov, the official investigation has not been completed yet.  The public opinion in Republic of Azerbaijan is that it is not in favor of the government to open up the case because as the widow of the journalist said “I remain sure that someone among the authorities did order the assassination of my husband”. On the 1-st anniversary of Elmar Huseynov’s murder there were organized several events commemorating the journalist as well as discussing and criticizing the slow investigation of the case. (03-MAR-2006)
 

The murder of the 38-year-old Elmar Huseynov, editor-in-chief of the independent magazine “Monitor,” on 2 March 2005 shocked the Azerbaijani and international community. The popular journalist and analyst with the critical standpoint to the government was shot seven times by a pistol on the threshold of his apartment, therefore, lots of people were certain that Huseynov’s murder was the handiwork of the authorities. (02-MAR-2006)

The government’s violent dispersal of a peaceful rally held by the “Azadlig” Election Bloc and other political powers on November 26, 2005 had serious resonance both in this country and in the international arena. Azerbaijan’s human rights organizations and well-known legal specialists decided to create a Public Investigation Commission, which held the careful investigation since November and released the report in the end of February. (01-MAR-2006)

On the 15-th of February the Committee to Protect Journalists distributed annual report “Attacks on the press in 2005”. In the chapter about Republic of Azerbaijan it reads that the murder of a prominent editor, detentions of other journalists, police abuses, and bureaucratic obstruction curtailed independent reporting in the run-up to a November 6 parliamentary election that saw President Ilham Aliyev’s ruling Yeni Republic of Azerbaijan Party and its allies sweep to victory. (19-FEB-2006)

The Azadlig Election Bloc, which was created in March 2005 by the Musavat, Popular Front and Democratic parties to with the goal of forming a united list of candidates for participation in the parliamentary elections – split in the middle of February 2006. Musavat Party left the Electoral Bloc Azadlig, which was later on transformed to the Political Bloc, aiming at joint struggle against the “authoritarian regime.” (18-FEB-2006)

In January 2006 International Organization Human Rights Watch released its annual world report. In the section about Republic of Azerbaijan, it reads that Republic of Azerbaijan has a history of seriously flawed elections. In 2005, repression and harassment of opposition party members, an overwhelmingly pro-government bias in the electronic media, and government control of election commissions ensured that the parliamentary elections would not be free and fair. (15-FEB-2006)

One of the main events, shaken the whole world this week, is the numerous protest actions of Muslims all over the world. The manifestations have been held against the publication of caricatures on the Prophet Mohammed in several press outlets of a number of European countries. The religious communities and Muslim believers of Republic of Azerbaijan also condemned the disrespect of the Prophet Mohammad and held a number of protest actions too. (11-FEB-2006)