People in Baku, Azerbaijan.  Editorial credit:  Denis Kabelev / Shutterstock.com

Azerbaijan

Power in Azerbaijan’s authoritarian regime remains heavily concentrated in the hands of Ilham Aliyev, who has served as president since 2003, and his extended family. Corruption is rampant, and the formal political opposition has been weakened by years of persecution. The authorities have carried out an extensive crackdown on civil liberties in recent years, leaving little room for independent expression or activism. Azerbaijan won control of a third of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh along with some adjacent land during a weeks-long conflict with Armenia in 2020, at the cost of over 2,700 soldiers.

Freedom on the Net 2023

Freedom on the Net — Azerbaijan Country Report

Azerbaijan is rated Not Free in Freedom on the Net, Freedom House's comprehensive study of internet freedom around the globe. 

Freedom in the World 2023

Freedom in the World — Azerbaijan Country Report

Azerbaijan is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2023, Freedom House's annual study of political rights and civil liberties worldwide.

Volunteers clean up the rubbles from a destroyed residential building in Borodyanka. Following the recapture of Borodyanka by the Ukrainian forces, the city was heavily devastated and turned into ruins under intense fighting and shelling.

Nations in Transit — Azerbaijan Country Report

Azerbaijan is categorized as a Consolidated Authoritarian regime in the Nations in Transit 2023, Freedom House's annual study on the state of democracy in the region stretching from Central Europe to Central Asia.