The start and finish lines are marked by Baku’s Freedom Square, the site of Azerbaijan’s largest-ever political protests and a major crackdown by security forces in October 2003, following Aliyev’s election. “We knew that the government of Azerbaijan would have a huge PR campaign for the event, and we thought that the people who have been deprived of their voices needed their stories told.”
“We brainstormed and realized that we can connect every landmark in the race to an event where the regime cracked down or tried to consolidate power,” Zarona Ismailova, a journalist at Meydan TV who worked on the project, told Foreign Policy. The guide takes readers around the race track, stopping at public squares where protesters once gathered, noting the sites of high-level corruption scandals, and delving into luxury hotels believed to be owned by President Ilham Aliyev and his family. Meydan TV - a Berlin-based news site and online television channel made up of exiled Azerbaijani journalists and activists - on Thursday published “ Race for Truth ,” an interactive political guide to the Formula 1 event. Organizers for the Formula 1 race are hoping to showcase the historic scenery of the capital, Baku, with a picturesque seaside track where cars will zoom past buildings dating back to the 12th century at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour.īut one independent media organization is hoping the street race will expose the world to more than Baku’s architecture, by using the race track as a guide to Azerbaijan’s endemic corruption, deteriorating press freedom, and beleaguered human rights activists. Tourists, government officials, and fans of motor racing will flock to Azerbaijan for the European Grand Prix this weekend.
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