Former member of Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis and opposition politician Gultekin Hajibeyli has said she is being held illegally at the Çatalca Removal Center in Turkey, despite having a valid residence permit and no court ruling ordering her detention.
In a statement published on Facebook, Hajiyeva said that on Monday a Turkish criminal court of peace reviewed her complaint regarding the conditions of her detention but rejected it.
According to her, the court ruled that she would remain in closed detention – effectively under arrest – until a decision is issued by an administrative court.
Hajiyeva described the ruling as politically motivated and lacking legal grounds.
She said she has not violated any regulations and holds a two-year residence permit in Turkey, yet remains detained without a clear legal basis. According to Hajiyeva, a five-year deportation decision has been issued against her, which under Turkish law would normally require her to leave the country – not to be held in custody.
“My continued detention without a court order and without any legal justification, based solely on a deportation decision by the Migration Authority and a request sent from Azerbaijan, constitutes a gross violation of the rule of law,” she wrote.
Hajiyeva also questioned why she is being held without a judicial decision and why she has been placed under the G-82 security code, a designation used for individuals considered a threat to national security or linked to terrorist organizations. She said that, given her publicly known political background, the application of such a classification is unjustified.
She further stated that she has not been allowed to leave Turkey voluntarily and travel to a country of her choosing, despite the deportation decision.
According to Hajiyeva, all of her questions have been met with the same response: that the decision was made “on instructions from Ankara.”
In her statement, Hajiyeva warned that such actions risk undermining public trust in Turkey among Azerbaijani citizens.
“These questions are not being asked only by me,” she wrote. “Public opinion in Azerbaijan is also waiting for answers from the Turkish state. And no one should forget that these questions will one day have to be answered before history.”
She stressed that the foundation of Azerbaijani–Turkish brotherhood lies not in the interests of changing political authorities, but in the trust and goodwill between the peoples of the two countries.
In an earlier public appeal, she addressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, describing the situation as unfair and inconsistent with the principles of law and justice traditionally associated with the Turkish state.
She said she hoped Turkey would not be seen as endorsing what she characterized as political pressure on the opposition in Azerbaijan.
