> Sounds familiar.

Here’s a summary of what I found relating to recent unrest, political tension, and societal friction in Azerbaijan over roughly the past 6–18 months (mid-2024 through mid-2025), along with some background context and what’s driving the tensions:

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🔍 Key Developments & Unrest
    1.    Crackdown on critics & civil society
    •    Azerbaijan has intensified its suppression of dissent. Human rights organizations report that journalists, activists, and opposition figures have been arrested on politically motivated or vague charges.  
    •    Laws and administrative burdens have made it hard for NGOs to operate freely. ‏ 
    2.    Political prisoners
    •    The number of political prisoners rose in 2024; estimates are over 300, including journalists and human rights defenders.  
    3.    Nagorno-Karabakh related tensions and aftermath
    •    Following the September 2023 military offensive, which brought full Azerbaijani control over Nagorno-Karabakh, there have been continued disputes over ethnic Armenian rights, heritage, property, and humanitarian access.  
    •    For instance, Azerbaijan demolished the former Armenian parliament building in Karabakh in March 2024. Armenian groups and external observers criticized this as destruction of cultural heritage.  
    4.    Restricted assembly and protest environment
    •    Large peaceful protests are very rare; opposition parties and civil society note that applications for protests or rallies in Baku are often denied. When protests happen, they are met with administrative hurdles, police summons, restrictive laws, heavy monitoring.  
    •    The political space has shrunk: freedom of assembly, expression, media coverage, and NGO activity are under increasing pressure.  
    5.    International attention and hosting COP29
    •    Despite the internal tensions, Azerbaijan has hosted large international events like COP29. These high-profile events often draw scrutiny of internal practices.  
    •    Prior to COP29, reports indicate arrests of critics and independent media in anticipation of international exposure.  

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* Underlying Drivers
    •    Territorial restoration and nationalist momentum
Since 2020, reclaiming Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories has become central to national policy. That has given the government a degree of domestic popularity and legitimacy which it seems to leverage to tighten internal control.  
    •    Authoritarian consolidation
The Aliyev government appears to be consolidating its power: limiting dissent, making it harder for opposition groups to organize, controlling media narrative, using legal/judicial tools to suppress criticism.  
    •    Conflict spillover effects
The war over Karabakh has led to refugee flows, displacement, ethnic tensions, issues of property, and concerns about culture and minority rights, all of which fuel social tension and international scrutiny.  
    •    Economic pressures & expectations
With victory over Nagorno-Karabakh, many citizens likely expect improvements: in infrastructure, economic development, living conditions. Where those expectations aren’t met, the gap can fuel frustration.

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🚨 Potential Flashpoints Moving Forward
    •    Crackdowns on emerging criticism: especially independent media, bloggers, or lawyers speaking out.
    •    Tensions over heritage and property in Karabakh territory: demolitions or re-development can spark opposition or international diplomatic fallout.
    •    Protests against rising economic cost of living or social services could resurface if quality of life doesn’t improve.
    •    International pressure on human rights may increase, especially tied to events like COP29 or foreign investment.

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If you like, I can pull together a timeline of specific protests or critical incidents in the last year or so, so you can see when tensions surged and what triggered them.