On August 1st, 2025 , Linda Euljekjian submitted a letter to Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva exactly in those terms that are presented today before us in the latest news . We did not receive a response by then, but the new president’s statement goes exactly in the same direction as we were expecting.
The following is the text of our petition to Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva:
Excellency Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva
First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan
President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation
Heydar Aliyev Center
1 Heydar Aliyev Avenue
Baku, AZ1033
Republic of Azerbaijan
A Woman’s Plea for Mercy – Appeal for Clemency in the Case of Mr. Vicken Euljekjian
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Your Excellency,
With deep humility and the utmost respect, I write to you not only as the First Vice-President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, but as a woman, a mother, and a daughter—someone whose strength and devotion to family have inspired countless others, myself included.
My name is Iman Arous, and I am the wife of Vicken Euljekjian, who has now been imprisoned in Azerbaijan for nearly five years. I write this not as a political plea, but as a profoundly human one—from one woman to another—imploring your compassion, your influence, and your unique ability to understand the weight of love, loss, and legacy.
Your Excellency, your tireless efforts to honor the memory of your esteemed father-in-law, President Heydar Aliyev, through the center that bears his name, is a powerful testament to how family legacy is preserved—not through words alone, but through presence, reverence, and action. You have reminded the world that honoring those we love, especially our elders, is among the most sacred duties we carry.
It is this very duty that weighs so heavily on my husband’s heart. While Vicken has endured his imprisonment with dignity, his absence has left a painful void in our family. His own mother passed away while he was behind bars—he was denied the right to mourn her, to bury her, to carry her memory forward with the respect she deserved. Now, my mother—his mother-in-law—is facing the final stages of a brutal cancer. She has days when she cannot speak, and others when the only words she whispers are Vicken’s name.
He is not a young man. He is a father, a husband, a son-in-law. And like all men who carry the weight of family on their shoulders, he longs not for freedom alone, but for the chance to fulfill his duty—to honor the legacy of the woman who stood beside us, raised our children, and held our family together. Without him, we are lost.
Your Excellency, I appeal to your heart, your womanhood, your understanding of what it means to carry a legacy with dignity. Your voice, your compassion, could bring not only peace to my home, but send a resounding message to the world: that Azerbaijan, under your leadership, is not only powerful, but merciful—that it understands the human cost of absence, and the healing power of clemency.
A pardon for my husband would be an act of quiet greatness—one remembered not as concession, but as compassion. And it would restore to my children the father they miss, to my mother her son-in-law, and to me, my husband and partner.
From the depths of my heart, I ask you to help us. Let him come home. Let him honor what remains. Let him carry the legacy of the woman who may not live to see him free again.
With reverence, respect, and hope,
Iman Arous
Wife of Mr. Vicken Euljekjian
