$13,000 offered for Akram Aylisli's ear

The leaders of the Modern Musavat party have promised a bonus of $13,000 for anyone who will agree to cut the ear of Akram Aylisli.

Aylisli novel, published in 2012, was dedicated to the Armenians of Soviet Azerbaijan. “I dedicate this to the memory of my compatriots who left behind a big grief,” the writer said in the preface.

The main heroes are the Azerbaijanis of Agulis (a village in the south of Nakhicevan), who tried to help Armenians during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s pogrom of Sumgait and Baku.

The novel caused Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to strip Aylisli of the People’s Writer title and nominal pension. His son and wife were sacked from office weeks before.

Azerbaijani writers had earlier asked the president to revoke Aylisli’s citizenship and send him to Armenia.