By AZE.US
A new leadership battle has erupted inside the Azerbaijan Union of Cinematographers, with People’s Artist Hamida Omarova nominated to challenge acting head Shafiga Mammadova at a conference scheduled for September 11.
The nomination was announced by the Independent Cinema Platform, which urged delegates to ensure that the election is competitive, transparent and conducted according to democratic principles.
“A vote without an alternative candidate cannot be considered fair,” the group said in its appeal to conference delegates.
Mammadova had previously been approved by the union’s board as the sole candidate for chair. Omarova’s entry now turns what appeared likely to be an uncontested vote into another test of the organization’s unity.
A Chairman Was Elected but Never Registered
The dispute began after prominent actor Rasim Balayev, who headed the union, died on March 29, 2026.
At a May 26 conference, director and producer Ali Isa Jabbarov received the support of a majority of those present and was declared the union’s new chairman. His election was immediately challenged, however, by members who said the meeting was attended by only a limited section of the organization and did not represent the wider membership.
Jabbarov offered a different account. He alleged that some union members had been pressured not to attend the conference, leaving the organization in a legally and administratively difficult position.
The Justice Ministry subsequently did not register him as the union’s new chairman. His opponents argued that Jabbarov therefore remained executive secretary, while Mammadova, as first secretary, retained the authority to perform the chairman’s duties.
The disagreement soon developed into a public confrontation. One group alleged pressure and attempts to derail the May election, while another accused the organizers of violating the union’s charter and holding a vote without sufficient representation.
More serious allegations against Jabbarov also appeared in local media, including claims involving financial and administrative misconduct. No publicly available official investigation has substantiated those accusations.
Board Restarted the Election Process
On August 28, the union’s board effectively reset the leadership contest.
It temporarily transferred the chairman’s powers to Mammadova and approved her as the sole candidate for the September conference. The board also accepted Jabbarov’s resignations as executive secretary and as a member of the governing body.
At the same meeting, officials decided to review the union’s membership list and consider terminating the membership of certain individuals. That decision added to concerns that the leadership dispute could lead to a broader purge of the opposing camp.
The nomination of Omarova is therefore more than a symbolic challenge. A respected actress and a member of the union’s leadership, she offers delegates an alternative to Mammadova and gives critics of an uncontested election a candidate around whom they can unite.
Old Divisions Return
The latest dispute is particularly damaging because Azerbaijan’s filmmakers formally ended a long-running institutional split only two and a half years ago.
For more than a decade, two rival organizations operated in the country: the historic Union of Cinematographers of Azerbaijan, formerly headed by screenwriter Rustam Ibrahimbekov, and the Union of Cinematographers of the Azerbaijani Republic, established in 2012 under Mammadova.
Their rivalry extended beyond professional disagreements and became entangled in politics, particularly after Ibrahimbekov’s involvement with Azerbaijan’s opposition ahead of the 2013 presidential election.
The two organizations finally merged on March 5, 2024. Mammadova withdrew her candidacy before the leadership vote, clearing the way for Balayev to become chairman of the united organization.
His death reopened divisions that the merger had never fully resolved.
The September 11 conference will now decide more than who occupies the chairman’s office. It will test whether the union can establish leadership recognized by its competing factions – or whether Azerbaijan’s film community is heading toward another de facto split.
AZE.US