Shahriyar Majidzade

Shahriyar Majidzade
Shahriyar_Majidzade.jpg Shahriyar_Majidzade.jpg Co-founder and Director of Kitabistan Research Center
Born	(1986-09-10) 10 September 1986 Tartar, Azerbaijan SSR
🏳️ Nationality	Azerbaijani
💼 Occupation

Shahriyar Sardar oglu Majidzade (born September 10, 1986, in Mirbashir) is an intellectual, publisher, journalist, and co-founder of the Kitabistan Research Center. He actively operates in the fields of civil society, media, and enlightenment in Azerbaijan. From 2012 to 2018, he served as the chairman of the Milli Fikir Mərkəzi (National Idea Center) youth organization. In 2011, he founded the "Etatist" newspaper, and in 2012, he established the "Etatist" internet newspaper, where he served as the editor-in-chief until 2019.

Family

Shahriyar Majidzade's father, Sardar Majid oglu Hamidov, served as the head of the Executive Power of the Tartar region, which bordered the former Nagorno-Karabakh, and as the commander of the Tartar Self-Defense Battalion from 1992 to 1994. He was dismissed from his position after the ceasefire agreement was signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Bishkek on May 12, 1994.

Life

Shahriyar Majidzade was born on September 10, 1986, in the Tartar (then Mirbashir) region. His early childhood years were spent in the Tartar region. Later, he studied at the Elitar Gymnasium in the Nasimi district of Baku.

In 2005, he enrolled in the Faculty of International Law at the Institute of International Relations of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in Ukraine and graduated with honors from the same university in 2009. He received a character reference from the university administration for his strict adherence to discipline and his activities.

Public activity

Shahriyar Majidzade began his public activity in 2011 by founding the "Etatist" newspaper. In November 2012, with the aim of contributing to civic journalism in Azerbaijan, he founded the Etatist.com internet newspaper and became its editor-in-chief. The unique feature of the Etatist.com internet newspaper was that, for the first time in Azerbaijan, everyone had the opportunity to directly post news and articles on this website. The newspaper's editorial board mainly consisted of young volunteers. Until the internet newspaper ceased its activity in 2019, Majidzade continued his role as the editor-in-chief there as well.

In May 2012, together with a group of young people, he founded the Milli Fikir Mərkəzi (National Idea Center) youth organization and was elected its chairman. During his leadership of the National Idea Center, the center organized more than 60 open seminars, various events, and youth discussions with the participation of local socio-political figures, poets and writers, professors, and historians. At the same time, it held open seminars with representatives of the diplomatic corps and heads of local offices of transnational companies. A library, a philosophy club, a reading club, and socio-political research groups were also established within the center .

In 2016, together with Malak Hajiyeva, he co-founded the Kitabistan publishing house under the Milli Fikir Mərkəzi.

After the National Idea Center ceased its activities in 2018, the Kitabistan publishing house expanded its scope and began operating as a research center, with Shahriyar Majidzade becoming its director. Subsequently, the Kitabistan Research Center broadened its activities beyond book translation and publication by organizing seminars with foreign experts in Azerbaijan, expanding its research areas, and conducting interviews with foreign experts to present positive global examples in Azerbaijan.

Political activity

In the November 2015 elections for the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Shahriyar Majidzade ran as an independent from the 95th Tartar electoral district. Due to high voter turnout at his meetings, he faced restrictions, people attending his meetings were pressured, and his father and representative, Sardar Hamidov, were detained by the police. At that time, media outlets even nominated the 95th Tartar electoral district as one of the three most active districts in the country. Despite all of this, the voting results were openly falsified with serious legal violations .

In the September 2024 elections for the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Shahriyar Majidzade again participated as an independent candidate, running from the 97th Tartar-Aghdara-Goranboy electoral district.

Running with the slogan "Peace! Climate! Gender! Enlightenment!", Majidzade also promoted these ideas throughout his election campaign.

Before the official campaign period began for the elections, Anar Mammadov, the ruling party's candidate for the 97th Tartar-Aghdara-Goranboy electoral district, violated the Election Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan by starting his campaign ahead of schedule.

Although Shahhriyar Majidzade publicized this fact, as well as numerous instances of Anar Mammadov violating the Election Code during the campaign period, and appealed to the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Azerbaijan, no action was taken regarding these facts.

Shahriyar Majidzade gave interviews and statements to foreign media and local services of global media outlets about the violations during the campaign period and election process, the discriminatory treatment he faced, as well as the psychological terror, physical violence, and death threats he, his representatives, and observers were subjected to on election day, and repeatedly publicized these violations. Despite this, the 97th District Election Commission (DEC) and the Central Election Commission (CEC) took no action regarding these violations.

Shahriyar Majidzade, rejecting the election results, filed complaints with the 97th District Election Commission (DSK), the Central Election Commission (MSK) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court, citing evidence of election violations. However, his complaints were not upheld.

His 2024 parliamentary election campaign was one of the few active election campaigns in Azerbaijan.

Demonstrations

As a public activist, Shahriyar Majidzade has organized a number of actions using non-violent resistance methods. On May 28, 2012, he held a protest in “Sahil” Park with members of the National Idea Center to protest against the repression of Soviet imperialism. The choice of “Sahil” Park for the action had symbolic significance, as it was called "26-lar Bağı" (26 Commissars Garden) during the Soviet era in honor of the 26 Baku Commissars. 

Shahriyar Majidzade, along with National Idea Center (NIC) members, held a protest march on the main streets of Baku on June 4, 2012, condemning the anti-state rebellion of the pro-Russian Suret Huseynov in Ganja on June 4, 1993, and his desire to seize power unconstitutionally as an illegal act and violence.

On July 17, 2012, he organized the "Read! Apprehend yourself!" march in the center of Baku to promote reading and enlightenment in society.

On February 19, 2014, Shahriyar Majidzade, together with members of NIC, held a protest in front of the Nasimi monument in Baku. The reason for the protest was the police intervention on February 16, 2014 at the "Vətən" (eng. Homeland) cinema in Baku, which disrupted a planned concert by "Kabus," a young rapper and member of NIC. The police stated that the concert was illegal and did not allow it to take place. Protesting this decision, Shahriyar Majidzade and NIC members organized a demonstration, arguing that the intervention was unlawful. However, the protest was prevented due to police intervention. Shahriyar Majidzade was detained by four plainclothes individuals, taken to the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, and released later that day.

In 2014, the director of school number 283 filed a lawsuit against the Etatist internet newspaper, demanding ₼50,000. This was due to the publication on the Etatist internet newspaper of a complaint made by retired colonel Ziyadkhan Bekirov to President Ilham Aliyev against 72-year-old school director Shukufa Akhundova. Following this, Shahriyar Majidzade held an event called "Dead Education - Dead Generation," the NIC scheduled a protest in front of the Ministry of Education, and young people held a virtual protest demanding the withdrawal of the lawsuit. On October 24, the plaintiff made a press statement about withdrawing their demand, and the planned protest was canceled.

References

This article "Shahriyar Majidzade" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Shahriyar Majidzade. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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