Azerbaijan’s Security Service Reportedly Pressures Parachuting Community Amid Smuggling Allegations

According to information obtained in recent days, Azerbaijan’s State Security Service has reportedly begun summoning a large number of individuals involved in parachuting and paramotoring activities across the country, including in Baku and several regions.

Sources claim that these athletes have been called to local offices and asked to provide written statements pledging that they will no longer conduct flights. In some cases, the process was allegedly recorded on video. There are also reports that parachuting equipment belonging to some athletes has been confiscated.

Several members of the parachuting community say they were addressed in a harsh and intimidating manner. According to their accounts, officials used phrases such as: “This is not the police station — raise your head and look where you are.” This phrase appears to have become something of an unofficial motto of the State Security Service, as I personally have heard it several times as well.

When parachutists asked why such measures were being taken, they were reportedly told that motorized parachutes and paragliders had been used to transport narcotics across the Iran–Azerbaijan border in the Bilasuvar direction.

However, this explanation raises a serious question: if an individual transports narcotics on foot, by car, or using any other means, does that mean all such means of movement should be banned?

After years of absurd restrictions, including the continued extension of quarantine measures under the pretext of COVID-19, decisions of this kind are, unfortunately, no longer surprising.

If the real issue is drug smuggling, then responsibility must fall on those who violate the law — not on an entire sporting community.

It remains unclear how the State Security Service arrived at such a sweeping conclusion. Citizens in Azerbaijan have already lost much of their freedom on the ground; perhaps they should at least be allowed to fly freely in the sky.

In the middle of the 21st century, such methods of governance and intimidation can only be observed in authoritarian regimes like Azerbaijan.

Ultimately, one question remains: what is your real objective?

Kamran Nasirli
Journalist