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Azerbaijani deputy Fazil Mustafa called the country’s law enforcement agencies to take a Talysh human rights defender “under strict control,” because he had dared to criticize him for pretensions on originally Talysh lands. Mustafa particularly claimed that “Azerbaijani Turks are the owners of that land,” and that the Talysh, Lezgin, and Kurdish people should “operate there together with the Turks.”

Redirecting the response to his words towards “fight against separatism,” the MP sets law enforcement agencies on the Talyshes who struggle for their rights. For example, the Azerbaijani MP Fazil Mustafa told Bizim Yol website that the circulation of separatist moods on social media is not accidental and is a result of a “spontaneous action.”

Particularly accusing the Talysh intelligentsia of “sympathy for separatism,” “praises to Andranik,” and “sympathy for PKK,” Mustafa calls the law enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan “to pay a serious attention” not only to specific people, but also to those, who spread Talyshistan TV channel’s programs on social media.

“When we talk about territorial integrity, they show a disrespectful attitude towards us,” Mustafa resents adding that “because of that, law enforcement agencies should take under serious control not only the Talysh intelligentsia, but also those, who spread programs on social media.”

Azerbaijani expert Ilham Ismail also talked about Talyshistan TV channel.  Ismail stated that “it broadcasts programs against Azerbaijan voicing thoughts directed towards the resentment among small nations” and “accused” Russia of creating the channel together with the Armenians in order to “put pressure on Azerbaijan by making use of Talysh separatism.”

APA news agency reports that the chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office, Sheikh ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh, also made anti-Talysh statements, declaring that he is “troubled by Fahraddin Abbasadze’s participation in Armenian events.” According to the report, Pashazadeh noted that Alikram Gummatov had once offered him to become the sheikh of Lankaran, to which he answered the following, “you are crazy, I am the sheikh of the entire Caucasus.” As the chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office said, “such issues” should be covered in religious sermons and “we should say our word to those, who carry out agitation against us.”

The Talysh are Iranian-speaking indigenous people of the region, who follow Shia Islam. Officially, there are 87 thousand Talysh people in Azerbaijan. The real number of the Talysh population is considerably higher – 400. However, this figure is kept secret for a further assimilation of the nation with the Turks of Azerbaijan.

In 1993, colonel Alikram Gummatov proclaimed the Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic consisting of 7 Azerbaijani regions inhabited by the Talyshes. However, Azerbaijani authorities did not recognize its autonomy, and its leaders were prosecuted: Gummatov was imprisoned and sentenced to death. Later, he was deported from the country under the pressure of the Council of Europe and deprived of citizenship.  

The editor-in-chief of the only Talysh newspaper in Azerbaijan Tolishi-Sado Hilal Mammadov was arrested by Azerbaijani police on June 21, 2012. He was accused of drug possession, while later the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan accused him of state treason and espionage. On September 27, 2013, Azerbaijani court found him guilty on all charges and sentenced him to 5 years imprisonment. Among other things, Mammadov is famous for his video placed on the internet “Who the hell are you? “. In summer of 2012, in front of the Azerbaijani embassy to Moscow, 3 protest actions took place demanding to stop ethnocide and release Mammadov. Famous international human rights organizations considered him a political prisoner and “a prisoner of conscience.”

On March 14, 2016, Mammadov was pardoned and released among other political prisoners of Azerbaijan.