Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli has left Azerbaijan. To recall, Aylisli is the author of "Stone Dreams", the book about two Azerbaijani men and their efforts to protect their Armenian neighbors during the Sumgait and Baku Pogroms in the closing years of the Soviet Union.
According to Haqqin news agency, the writer's son says that his father has not been at home for several days. But he does not specify where his father is.
The source says that the mobile and landline phones of the writers do not answer. In the meantime the source does not rule out that Aylisli might have gone abroad to ask for political asylum.
To recall, in late 2012 and early 2013, Aylisli found himself embroiled in controversy when his novella, Das Yuxular (Stone Dreams), was published in a Russian-language journal called Druzhba Narodov (Friendship of the Peoples). Completed in 2007, the novella tells the story of two Azerbaijani men and their efforts to protect their Armenian neighbors during the Sumgait and Baku Pogroms in the closing years of the Soviet Union. Many in Azerbaijan took offense to Aylisli's sympathetic portrayal of Armenians. Protests were organized against the author in Nakhchivan and Baku, including one in front of his home, where signs reading "Why have you sold yourself out to the Armenians?" were displayed and his portrait was burned. Azerbaijani lawmakers also condemned the work, with one suggesting that Aylisli have his DNA tested, be stripped of his Azerbaijani citizenship and insisting that he move to Armenia. The writer's wife and son were fired from their jobs. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev decreed depriving Aylisli of the "People's Writer" title and the personal pension of the President.