Talk:Forced evictions in Baku

Some requested review

Double-used link?

Sources 11 and 12 both direct to [1]--is this just a template copying accident? (I know I do this all the time). Khazar2 (talk) 12:01, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Whoops, yes it is. Fixed, thank you. Kurtis (talk) 12:09, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Legality of evictions

The sources to show that the evictions are illegal in Az. seem a bit weak for a major and controversial claim. I'd suggest replacing the primary sources with attributed secondary sources (i.e., "Human rights groups have said that the evictions are illegal" followed by refs to HRW and AI) or direct statements from several highly reliable media sources (BBC, Al Jaz, etc.). It also be helpful to suss out the official Az gov stand, unless it's that they simply refuse to comment or acknowledge that any evictions are happening. Khazar2 (talk) 12:05, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Really? I thought it'd actually be better to provide a link to Azerbaijan's legal code to give solid proof that it is, in fact, illegal under Azeri law. But I suppose you're right. I'll look into it in a little while. I've been feeling sick lately, so I'm not as full of energy as I'd like to be. Kurtis (talk) 12:11, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

No worries--I don't mean to suggest you're POV-pushing or anything, just that it's probably best not to try to sort out the legal end ourselves (especially when it's likely to be controversial). EU statements, etc., will go a long way to showing that these evictions have not been accepted by the international community as legal, even without a direct statement. Let me keep looking (though three-week-old Little Miss Khazar is starting to stir threateningly). Khazar2 (talk) 12:57, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Oh, of course not! I never interpreted it that way. I was just confused as to how those sources were inadequate. Whenever you have the time, I would definitely appreciate if you updated the links — assuming of course I have not done so already by then. Kurtis (talk) 13:56, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Background

I'm a bit torn on the background section. It's well-written and well-sourced, but dwelling on Azerbaijan's problems more generally sort of "loads the dice" against the government in this controversy, raising minor concerns about WP:POV and WP:SYNTH. To provide the reverse thought experiment, we wouldn't include unrelated negative information about Human Rights Watch, one of the main opposition sources, there. But what makes this tricky is that some of these sources do directly connect Az govt. corruption with the evictions. My proposal would be to try to slim this part down to only information taken from sources that directly discuss the evictions. This will still give us some background on the fact that Azer has major and regular human rights issues according to int'l groups, and that govt corruption is implied to be a factor here; but at the same time, it'll avoid any appearance that this is an attack piece. Does that make sense? Or am I simply reading too quickly? Feel better, btw! Khazar2 (talk) 13:08, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

That would be fantastic, thanks! =)

And I'm starting to get a bit better, but still not 100% yet. Hopefully sometime within the near future I'll be back to active editing as I was last week. Kurtis (talk) 13:51, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Great--hope you continue to improve.

Giving this one more re-read just now before bed, I wonder if the "Background" section might be simply started from scratch. It's a good overview of the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, but it doesn't give much background specifically about the evictions--development pressures, planned developments, etc. One other area where this article might improve is reworking the lead section so that it's more of a summary of the rest per WP:LEAD: "Significant information should not appear in the lead if it is not covered in the remainder of the article." I don't think these are issues that necessarily need to hold up your DYK nom, but I thought I'd just put them out there.

Have you considering moving any parts of your summary to the master article of Human rights in Azerbaijan? It seems to me to be better-sourced and better-written than what's currently in several sections there. Khazar2 (talk) 05:23, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Useful references

I haven't checked whether these references are in the article yet, but they're useful to use.

http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/azerbaijan0212webwcover.pdf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18094562

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/photo-gallery-forced-evictions-in-baku-in-run-up-to-eurovision-fotostrecke-80806.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/giorgi-gogia-we-should-be-able-to-enjoy-the-songs-without-complicity-in-ruthless-forced-evictions-7789177.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/singing-in-azerbaijan--but-not-for-democracy-7737804.html

http://www.rferl.org/content/hrw_cites_forced_evictions_in_baku_before_eurovision_2012/24499800.html

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4f2007ea4d.html

http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/06/25/azerbaijan-letter-council-europe-monitoring-committee

http://www.hrw.org/features/azerbaijan-forced-evictions

--Activism1234 15:20, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

I suspect I have used some of those links in the article, but nevertheless I really appreciate your assistance. I'll be back later when I've got more energy to edit this thing. Right now my head is spinning and my cold lingers. =/ Kurtis (talk) 01:56, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

No worries, there isn't any rush, and if I get a chance (doubt it though - have an important presentation on Thursday need to prepare!) I'll edit it with some of these references as well. And feel better! --Activism1234 02:46, 14 August 2012 (UTC)