In an online survey conducted in Azerbaijan last year, shortly after the 2020 Karabakh War, the majority of respondents, 79%, expressed optimism about the future of the country. This dominant public attitude mirrored the ruling elite’s triumphant post-war rhetoric, which promised a new socio-economic reality for Azerbaijani citizens after the retaking of key areas in Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenian control.
“We have won a victory on the battlefield, in the political arena, and this victory opens a new era for our country,” asserted President Aliyev in a national address in December 2020. “This will be an era of development, security and progress.”
One year since the war ended, however, there are reasons to believe that, for many, these hopes are yet to be realised. Instead, there are signs of increased social tensions. Ordinary citizens regularly organise small-scale protests on ‘social issues’ – the demolition of homes, credit fraud, justice, inability to access pensions and delayed wages – and this hints at the causes of socio-economic dissatisfaction under Azerbaijan’s autocratic regime.
