Azer Gasimli

Azer Gasimli (Azerbaijani: Azər Ağaqasım oğlu Qasımlı; born 31 March 1975) is Azerbaijani social and political figure, former deputy chairman of the Republican Alternative Party; founder of the Institute of Political Management; doctor of philosophy in political sciences.

Azer Gasimli
Azər Ağaqasım oğlu Qasımlı
Azer Gasimli in 2024
Born	Azer Agagasim oghlu Gasimli (1975-03-31) 31 March 1975 Baku, Azerbaijan
Alma mater	State Institute of Social Management and Political Science (B) Azerbaijan State Art Institute (B) Marmara University (M) Moscow State University (PhD)
Occupation	politican
Years active	2000–
Organization	Republican Alternative Party (2008–2018)
Political party	Republican Alternative Party (2018–2019)

Early life

Azer Gasimli was born on 31 March 1975 in Baku. His father, Agagasim Gasimov, was a candidate of sciences in geology, a teacher at the Azerbaijan Oil and Chemical Institute, and his mother, Shafiga Nasrullayeva, was a philologist.

In 1993, Azer Gasimli entered the Art Industry Department of the Azerbaijan State Art Institute. A year later, in 1994, after realizing that he could not be an artist, he took the exam at the Institute of Social Management and Political Science. In 1998, he graduated from both the Institute of Arts and the Institute of Social Management and Political Science (with honors).

In 2000, after completing a one-year program at the Turkish language and literature department of the Aegean University in İzmir, Azer Gasimli entered the international relations and political sciences department of the Marmara University in Istanbul in 2001, where he studied with Ahmet Davutoğlu, "Legal and political foundations of citizenship and political asylum" He defended his dissertation on the subject and eventually obtained a master's degree. Then, in 2009, he defended his thesis on "Formation of the Political Regime in Azerbaijan" at Moscow State University and received a Ph.D. degree in politics.

He is married. He has 3 children.

Activity

During his studies at the institute, Azer Gasimli worked in parallel in the "Political ideologies in Azerbaijan" project conducted by the Freedom House organization of the United States. In 1996, he was the author of brochures on "liberalism and nationalism in Azerbaijan".

In 1997, he participated in the conference of young sociologists and political scientists organized by the Open Society Foundations in Kyiv, and his article was published in the book of the conference.

In 1998, brochures on selection technologies authored by Azer Gasimli were printed. In 1998, an extensive interview of Azer Gasimli, who participated in IDEE's conference in Warsaw, was published in the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

In 2008–2009, Azer Gasimli published a series of articles in the Russian "Policy" magazine.

From 2002 to 2006, he was the Russian representative of the Turkish company INCI. From 2006 to 2010, he served as CEO of Alliance Group. However, Azer Gasimli, who is persistent in his decision to return to Azerbaijan, returns to the country and joins the politics he was interested in before.

Between 2011 and 2019, Azer Gasimli was a member of the board of the Republican Alternative Movement, the coordinator of the Party Organization Committee, and the Speaker of the Assembly of the Republican Alternative Party. On 6 November 2019, the chairman of the Republican Alternative Party, Ilgar Mammadov, resigned from the party ranks, protesting the changes made in the party structure and management.

Arrested (2018)

Azer Gasimli was the organizer of the march held on 28 May 2018 – in connection with the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. One day after the march, on May 29, Azer Gasimli was detained by the police. He was charged with Article 535.1 (disobeying the legal order of the police) of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Azerbaijan. By the decision of the Yasamal District Court, he was sentenced to 30 days of administrative imprisonment. Azer Gasimli denied these accusations and linked his arrest with being the organizer of the May 28 march. According to him, on May 29 he was called from the Prosecutor General's Office and informed that he was invited by First Deputy Prosecutor General Rustam Usubov. However, the head of the press service Eldar Sultanov talked with him. The latter regarded the conduct of the procession without agreement with the city administration, as a violation of the law. The Prosecutor General's Office made a warning to Gasimli not to violate the requirements of the law anymore. After that, he was summoned to the 26th branch of the Yasamal police, where he was accused of not subordinating the police and was taken to court.