Azerbaijan's emergence as a middle power under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, its assertive foreign policy, growing international standing, contribution to global energy security, strategic importance in regional transit corridors, and domestic political and economic stability have significantly increased the scale of hybrid attacks against the country by foreign actors.
These assessments were included in a statement issued by the Azerbaijani parliament's Temporary Commission on Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats in connection with hybrid attacks targeting Azerbaijan.
The statement reads:
“Against the backdrop of ongoing wars and tensions in our region, the Republic of Azerbaijan, widely regarded as an island of stability, has recently faced religious and ideological provocations, coordinated information operations, and cyberattacks on an unprecedented scale and in a synchronized manner.
“Under the pretext of promoting various freedoms, our people's centuries-old national, spiritual, and multicultural values, as well as their religious beliefs, are being targeted. Harmful activities are being used to undermine society's understanding of truth and present foreign ideologies to our people as the right path.
“Investigations conducted jointly with the relevant state authorities have established that influence operations, cyberattacks, and attempts to carry out terrorist acts and sabotage are aimed at manipulating public opinion, creating polarization within society, and undermining trust in state institutions. These activities are conducted through agents of influence and clandestine organizations operating both inside and outside the country. In the digital sphere, they involve hacker groups, foreign media outlets, genuine and fake accounts, and bots.
“We must express our regret that forces hostile to Azerbaijan, operating in friendly and neighboring countries, are injecting disinformation into digital platforms through channels that appear independent. Their objective is to create divisions along ethnic, religious, and political lines within society. They seek to sow discord within the country, turn citizens with differing views against one another, incite violence, and weaken our state from within.
“Actors behind hybrid threats use a method known as ‘computational propaganda’ to confuse public opinion and deepen social fragmentation. They encourage people to actively seek out false information that supports their existing views in the media and on social networks, believe it, and spread it among others.
“Algorithm-driven content distribution creates ‘echo chambers,’ exposing users primarily to information that reinforces their existing beliefs, opinions, and worldviews. Through the algorithms used by digital platforms, posts designed to provoke emotional reactions among our citizens are disseminated to large audiences.
“Furthermore, the mechanism known as ‘filter bubbles’ ensures that harmful content reaches audiences already susceptible to it and previously influenced in a particular direction. This increases the effectiveness of manipulation exponentially.
“Within such an environment, these actors seek to use the infrastructure of digital platforms themselves, rather than resorting to conventional propaganda methods, to promote foreign values, undermine national stability, and divide our society from within.
“Monitoring has also established that, despite the scale of malicious activities directed against Azerbaijan from certain centers, our Victorious People have demonstrated a resolute stance, refused to succumb to provocations, unequivocally supported the measures taken by the state, and continue to provide the necessary assistance in exposing divisive content and the individuals behind it.
“We reiterate that the parliament's Commission on Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats, the relevant parliamentary committees and structural divisions of the parliamentary administration, together with the relevant state institutions, are successfully countering these malicious hybrid attacks against our state and will continue to respond decisively to any future attempt.
“Our commission also expresses its profound gratitude to citizens of friendly and neighboring countries who have condemned these anti-Azerbaijani activities and demonstrated a fair and principled position.”