Dispatches from Azerbaijan: European Parliament is bad, Mogherini is good, and more

Reading news feed from this morning, there was too much goodness not to share so in case you are sucker for real "good" news from Azerbaijan I suggest you stop reading right away. 

N!DA activists 

Let's start from two youth activists, members of N!DA movement who were detained May 10 and later charged with drug possession, after being beaten and tortured in detention. On June 2, while Amnesty International recognized Giyas Ibrahimov and Bayram Mammadov as "prisoners of conscience", the two despite it being almost a month are yet to see their families. Their lawyer thinks it is probably because police is trying to make sure their wounds have healed so their parents cannot spot how heavily they have been tortured or simply a way to pressure the young men. 

Mehdiyev's second diatribe 

Its been a while since last diatribe from the head of the Presidential Apparatus, Ramiz Mehdiyev. The last time he published a 60 page article, it was beginning of unprecedented crackdown [December 2014]. Then he wrote about western colonialism, lambasting Western players, in particular the US of double standards, biased approach and anti-Azerbaijan sentiment. This time [az], Mehdiyev wrote about West establishing world domination. He then goes into arguing that the only strong state system is possibly only in presidential administration system. According to Mehdiyev, it is the IMF, WB, WTO and other financial institutions that are directly responsible for violating state sovereignty [wonder if the man is out of touch with his people, because he does not seem to be objecting the government borrowing money from these institutions for various projects and initiatives]. 

But looks like it wasn't just Mehdiyev who decided to bash some "Westerners" this week. 

Ilham Aliyev on fire, but wrong time and wrong place 

 

Next in line for bashing was European Parliament. This time it was President Aliyev who was critical. "The adoption of unfounded resolutions full if insults served to cut Azerbaijani ties with the EP", said the president in a meeting with Norica Nicolai [Vice-Chair of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe at the European Parliament, Eastern Partnership rapporteur for Azerbaijan] and Iveta Grigule [member of the European Parliament]. President Aliyev accused the president and vice president of the European Parliament of being part of anti-Azerbaijan forces. But not to worry because Norica Nicolai doesn't really respect people's rights and freedoms in Azerbaijan. She was one of the delegation members who traveled to Azerbaijan to observe Presidential elections in 2013 who issued a positive report in contrast to ODIHR. Nicolai was also featured in European Stability Initiative's report "Disgraced: Azerbaijan and the end of election monitoring as we know it". 

In 2015, Nicolai published an article where she wrote: 

It is also a country in a very delicate, yet so far stable, political situation. Dealing with its government has to be done according to local cultural customs and whatever action has to be backed with concrete policies. In other words, carrots are more useful than sticks in this region of the world. Sending their Government critical resolutions from the EP every year, without actually giving them any real reason to listen is at best, a pointless exercise.

Wondering what she meant by "local cultural customs". Perhaps the customs of violating elections and silencing critics? Maybe I get to ask this question to Ms. Nicolai when I get a chance to meet her in person but for now, lets assume her only best intentions. 

So Ilham Aliyev bashing EP to Nicolai and Grigule, who by the way happens to be no accidental guest and is also known for supporting Aliyev, wasn't really about bashing and more about wining. 

If you haven't had enough and still want more depressing news from Azerbaijan then I suggest watching this video. It is in Russian but it is about the detention and torture of two N!DA activists.  

But do not worry if even after that you still care to read a bit more, there is plenty of depressing news every day, just stay tuned, and I as always be sharing more with you here.

Behind the tradition of Caviar Diplomacy

Could it be that the there are some "forces" (as our beloved government officials would say) in the European Parliament and PACE who are keen supporters of the Aliyev regime? It seems so. And here is why. 

On January 23rd, PACE members voted on two key resolutions on Azerbaijan- one on the country's obligations and commitments as a member state and the second one a resolution on political prisoners. Unfortunately as I said earlier, the caviar seems to be more important than political prisoners and their rights in Azerbaijan and so while the initial resolution passed with 196 in favor and 13 against, the latter stayed on paper with only 79 in favor, and 125 against.

Among those who seem to be avid fans of caviar and other luxury, are European Parliament member- Bulgarian Socialist Kristian  Vigenin, who is also the Euronest chair. Last year he organized a discussion with Elkhan Suleymanov- head of Azerbaijani delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, to discuss the "unjust" resolution passed by the EP on the eve of Eurovision on the human rights record of Azerbaijan. Needless to say there were no reps. from the civil society, or opposition from Azerbaijan. 

Elkhan Suleymanov, was also among anti- Strasser report. In his statement following the voting Suleymanov accused Strasser of "biased and hostile" approach towards Azerbaijan. 

Apart from Vigenin, there are few others too, such as Kristina Ojuland (Estonian Liberal); Inese Vaidere (Latvian conservative); and Vytautas Landsbergis (also Lithuanian conservative). Looks like caviar can work its magic on everyone, whether you are a liberal, a conservative or avid defender of human rights abuses elsewhere but in Azerbaijan. 

These are the known faces of anti-human rights resolutions passed before too. Such as the resolutions on Emin and Adnan; Bakhtiyar Hajiyev; Rafig Tagi (may he rest in peace) and the most recent one on human rights that was passed before the Eurovision. 

If you haven't read it already European Stability Initiative published a comprehensive report on this matter titled "Caviar Diplomacy: How Azerbaijan silenced the Council of Europe (Part 1)". It is available for free on their website.

In that report, there is also a list of the so- called "apologists" for Azerbaijani regime. Among these are Maltese Joseph Debono Grech, Spain's Pedro Agramunt, Belgium's Paul Wille, UK's Mike Hancock, and Germany's Eduard Lintner and others who over time made it possible for instances such as the head of the PACE election observation mission declare past elections in Azerbaijan meeting international and CoE standards.

Ironically, these past few weeks only proved the dire situation Azerbaijani people live in. Starting from the publicized death of a young conscript; angered merchants protesting increase in rent; frustrated and fed up residents of Ismayilli and finally the protests organized in solidarity with people in Ismayilli in Baku.

But then the comfort of their seats miles away and generous presents from their special friends makes the struggle of Azerbaijani people miniscule doesn't it? Priorities vary...

Bloggers for Democracy

On December 5th, European Greens organized "Bloggers for Democracy" conference at the European Parliament. I was invited as a guest speaker to talk about my experience as a blogger in the context of Azerbaijan. There were other really incredible and prominent bloggers on the same panel, as Sarrah Abdelrahman from Egypt, Oleg Kaschin from Russia and Michael Anti from China.We talked about our countries, our political contexts, revolutions, human rights and freedom of expression. 

But as always, it was the Q&A session that brought a lot more into the discussion. I will write on that more later but for now, if you missed it, if you weren't there, you can watch it below (bloggers presentations are part 2). 

Letter to Catherine Ashton

Wanted to share a letter sent by a group pf MEPs to Catherine Ashton highlighting inconsistencies with regard to remarks made by Ashton while referring to Azerbaijan and Belarus. We need more of such letters to point out the dangers and pressing conditions that exist today in Azerbaijan. 

Letter To Catherine Ashton

European Parliament resolution on Azerbaijan (May 25, 2012)

Though its been a while, after watching this video where top Azerbaijani official aid is bashing all of the European, international and local institutions dealing with human rights, democracy, free press issues as well as local human rights defenders and activists, I thought I remind myself and others what are Azerbaijan's responsibilities as a member of Council of Europe and a partner in European Neighborhood Policy. 

This is the resolution that came through a day before the finals of the Eurovision song contest held in Baku.

European Parliament resolution on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan