Who Is Shushing State on Azerbaijan’s Detention of Khadija Ismayilova?
By Till Bruckner
Dec. 30, 2014

When the American ambassador to oil-rich Azerbaijan opened a
veterinary laboratory in the small town of Goygol earlier this year,
the U.S. embassy put out a press release to commemorate the landmark
event. When Azerbaijan’s government detained the country’s most
prominent investigative journalist earlier this month, barely a
whisper was heard from America’s diplomats.

Khadija Ismayilova, whose investigations into corruption cases
involving the ruling family of the Caspian nation have won her an
award for ‘Courage in Journalism’, has faced persecution by the
authorities before, most notoriously when they tried to blackmail her
by secretly filming her having sex and threatening to post the footage
online. (She refused to back down, and the footage was promptly
released onto the Internet.) In what a recent Washington Post
editorial called “the latest example of how Azerbaijan has become a
bleak dystopia for human rights and democracy”, she was locked away on
the Kafka-esque charge of “incitement to commit suicide.”
According to data released earlier this month by the Committee to
Protect Journalists, Azerbaijan is the second-worst persecutor of
journalists worldwide. On a per capita basis, it jails over twice as
many journalists as Iran does, and 28 times as many as get locked away
in China, leading one observer to dub the forthcoming 2015 European
Games in Baku the “Gulag Games’.

#mediabaku2015 Dear media – welcome to GULAG GAMES in #Azerbaijan,
world’s second worst jailer of journalists http://t.co/OmPWstaAQO

‘ Alakbar Raufoglu (@ralakbar) December 22, 2014

The Council of Europe’s Secretary General promptly called for her
immediate release. A representative of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, an outfit generally known for couching any
criticism in cautious diplo-speak, bluntly condemned the move as
“nothing but orchestrated intimidation, which is a part of the ongoing
campaign aimed at silencing her free and critical voice.” Amnesty
International denounced the charge as politically motivated, adding
that:

Dissenting voices in the country frequently face trumped-up criminal
charges, assault, harassment, blackmail and other reprisals from the
authorities and groups associated with them. Law enforcement officials
regularly resort to torture and other ill-treatment of civil society
activists, with impunity.

While fellow journalists have launched a dedicated ‘Free Khadija
Ismayilova’ campaign that is gaining strong traction on Twitter,
America’s diplomats have been keeping a conspicuously low profile.
When I contacted the U.S. State Department asking about formal
statements made in Ismayilova’s defence, a press officer could only
provide me with a single item, the transcript of the December 10th
session of State’s daily media briefing.

On that occasion, a reporter asked about Ismayilova’s case, and a
State Department spokesperson explained that:

“[W]e’re very concerned by the arrest and pretrial detention of
Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova. We’re deeply troubled by
increased restrictions on civil society activities, including on
journalists, in Azerbaijan. We are increasingly concerned that the
government is not living up to its international human rights
commitments and obligations. We urge the Government of Azerbaijan to
respect the universal rights of its citizens and allow them to freely
express their views. Azerbaijan will be best able to ensure its future
stability and prosperity by allowing a more open society. We have, of
course, raised the increased restrictions on civil society and freedom
of press at multiple levels in both Washington and abroad with the
Government of Azerbaijan officials. I don’t have anything specific as
it relates to this individual case.”

One week later, Tom Malinowski, the Assistant Secretary of State for
Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, also commented on Azerbaijan’s
tightening of the screws. During a brief interview, he spoke of “very
serious discussions at high levels” and warned that the country’s
“crackdown on civil society” was jeopardizing its bilateral
relationship with the United States.

However, he did not specifically refer to Ismayilova’s case.

Why are America’s diplomats not speaking out loudly and clearly on
Khadija Ismayilova’s behalf? Why has the State Department not joined
Europe’s diplomats in publicly demanding her immediate release from
jail?

One possible explanation is that many former U.S. diplomats now have
close financial ties to Azerbaijan. For example, former ambassador to
Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza today sits on the board of AzMeCo, an
Azerbaijani company working in the oil and gas sector. He seems to
have switched effortlessly from representing Washington’s interests in
Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to representing Baku’s interests in D.C. For
example, following Azerbaijan’s farcical presidential elections of
2013, Bryza — identifying himself only as a former diplomat and
Atlantic Council think tanker — wrote in an op-ed that “a reformist
wind may be blowing” and that “positive changes are underway.”

Challenged about his commercial ties in the petro-dictatorship
famously lampooned as ‘Absurdistan’, Bryza told the Huffington Post
that much of his time as ambassador had been spent on human rights
issues, including “trying to get journalists out of jail.” Apparently,
he managed to do so without alienating his host government. In 2011,
he was presented with the Leadership Award of a D.C.-based Azerbaijani
lobby group, the US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce (USACC), for
“exceptional leadership in promoting the development of bilateral
relations between the United States and Azerbaijan.”

Bryza is not the first U.S. ambassador to walk through the revolving
door after his Baku posting. One of his predecessors, Stanley
Escudero, did exactly the same thing, and is busily doing business in
Baku to this day. And sharing a place with Bryza on USACC’s diplomatic
roll of honor is former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage, who used to be co-director of the lobbying group. While
still in office, Armitage described Azerbaijan’s late dictator — and
father of the present dictator — Heydar Aliyev as “a man greater than
the life itself”.

It remains unclear to what extent the State Department’s near silence
on Khadija Ismayilova’s detention is due to string-pulling behind the
scenes by former diplomats who now have financial ties with Baku’s
regime and thus a vested interest in discouraging any rocking of the
bilateral boat. Indeed, Azerbaijan’s frequent junkets for top U.S.
decision-makers might may play an even greater role. “The direct money
to politicians in trips and gifts matter more. Azerbaijan gives
visiting VIP politicians diamond encrusted watches and other nice
baubles which they don’t report,” commented an observer of the region
who asked not to be named.

As Khadija Ismayilova begins her third week in jail, her supporters
will be watching closely to see whether any of the American politicos
who took part in an especially controversial junket to Baku will now
re-wrap their gifts and speak up on her behalf.

Disclaimer: This blog was written in a private capacity, and
exclusively reflects the author’s own personal views. The author has
no connections with Armenia or with the Armenian exile community.