Human Rights Watch has called on the Azerbaijan government to end its campaign of intimidation against Akram Aylisli, who has written a controversial book regarding relations between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Azerbaijan.

Aylisli, a member of the Union of Writers of Azerbaijan, is the author of Stone Dreams. The novel includes a account of violence by ethnic Azeris against Armenians during the 1920s, and at the end of the Soviet era, when the two countries engaged in armed conflict.

"Azerbaijan's authorities should immediately investigate and hold accountable anyone responsible for making threats against Aylisli, and ensure his personal safety," stated Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch in a statement the organization released today.

Aylisli told Human Rights Watch that he saw the novel as an appeal for friendship between the two nations. The novel was published in Friendship of Peoples, a Russian literary journal, in December 2012.