Azerbaijan police seize EU flag at Independence Day rally

Police in Azerbaijan have forcibly seized a European Union (EU) flag from an activist during an opposition rally marking the country's Independence Day.

The incident took place on Thursday in Novkhani, a town north of the capital Baku, where opposition-aligned groups gather annually to celebrate the foundation of the short-lived 1918 Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

A video shared by local media outlet Azadliq showed police officers surrounding a female demonstrator as she attempted to pose for a photograph with the EU flag.

After she refused to hand it over, officers took the flag by force, stating that "this is not the Azerbaijani flag". The rest of the rally continued peacefully with no arrests reported.

The demonstrators had gathered near a monument to Mahammad Amin Rasulzade, the founder and first leader of the 1918 republic. Participants chanted slogans demanding freedom and voiced support for the imprisoned leader of the opposition Popular Front Party (PFP), Ali Karimli.

While authorities blocked the display of the EU flag, activists pointed out that Baku itself lacked any public decorations or official flags to mark the national holiday.

Former journalist Namig Huseinov wrote on social media that the capital was "completely unadorned" and noted a lack of Independence Day programming on state television.

It is clear the government does not recognise our independence," Huseinov said. "Being independent is a crime and anathema in the eyes of the government."

Seymur Hazi, a member of the PFP, told regional news outlet OC Media that the government was approaching the holiday through a restrictive ideological lens.

He said the ruling New Azerbaijan Party prefers to link state-building to 1993, the year Heydar Aliyev — father of the current president — came to power, rather than the democratic legacy of 1918.

If the institutional values of the republic are popular in Azerbaijan, that means parliament, municipalities, and electoral bodies must be pluralistic," Hazi said. "The government does not want this."

To mark the day, President Ilham Aliyev and his wife, Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, shared holiday greetings on social media.

Aliyev also visited Nagorno-Karabakh, where he attended opening ceremonies for several companies in Khojali and Stepanakert, which Azerbaijan refers to as Khankendi.