ALIYEV’S DESPOTIC REGIME: TOWARDS THE EUROPEAN GAMES

Wednesday, 22 April 2015 10:28

The first European Games to be held in this June in Baku, on the
one hand, have inspired the Aliyev clan, and on the other hand, have
become a problem for it. It is clear that the Games are not a purely
sporting event, which is usually characterized by conviviality.

The political subtext should be also considered: Azerbaijan will host
delegations of European democracies, presenting itself not as a state
having the corresponding image on the world arena.

And indeed, a paradoxical situation will occur in Baku: foreign
athletes and guests will express their gratitude to the leadership
of the country for a good time, but surely, along with this, there
will be responses and comments by the Europeans who have witnessed
the violence that is carried out by the ruling regime of Azerbaijan
against its own citizens. This fact increases the probability of
making appeals, sobering the Aliyev clan, during the Games.

The question is whether all this will please the leadership of the
country, and what the President of Azerbaijan will specially brag
about. We think that everything will take place on the old scenario:
Europe will take advantage of the benefits, magnificent receptions,
gifts from Azerbaijan, but the country will continue to be qualified
as a classic dictatorship.

In short, Aliyev should expect also European political games from the
European sports games. Who knows, maybe this event also pursues this
goal. Last month, the West once again exposed to the international
community the illegal and inhuman actions of the Azerbaijani
authorities on suppressing dissent. US Senator Richard Durbin made a
statement, urging the Obama Administration not to forget about the
struggle for fundamental political freedoms against the background
of global challenges. The Senator recalled the Azerbaijani citizens,
who are imprisoned for their commitment to democratic values or
their propaganda. “First of all, I am deeply concerned about the
recent repressions of human rights defenders in Azerbaijan”, said
the Senator and described the situation over the past year in the
country as alarming.

The Azerbaijani site Radioazadlyg, citing the editorial of the The
New York Times newspaper, quoted Senator Durbin about President Ilham
Aliyev: this man tries to convince the world that he is reasonably
establishing relations with the West, while he has created one of
the worst forms of human rights violation. “Aliyev’s desire is to
convince the world that Azerbaijan is a model country that professes
moderate Islam, has strong relations with the West and is the perfect
host for the upcoming European Games”, said the Senator.

Next, Senator Durbin described the situation around the closure of
Radio “Liberty”, the arrest of journalist Khadija Ismayilova and other
activists. Dissatisfaction with the style of actions of the Aliyev
clan was expressed not only by Durbin, but also by other members of
the US Senate. In last August, Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Cerf
sent a letter to President Aliyev, expressing their concern about the
imprisonment of two Azerbaijani human rights defenders. According to
Azerbaijani sources, Aliyev has released one of them and the other
remains behind bars so far.

Analyzing the processes observed recently in the relations between
Azerbaijan and the West, it is also necessary to pay attention to the
news in the economic sphere. As is known, the Azerbaijani Republic’s
state oil company SOCAR is working closely with the US and the UK.

Recently, the Azerbaijani sources have informed that the noted company
has signed yet another deal, which is quite lucrative for the US. In
fact, Azerbaijan has business ties with the West, but this does not
hamper members of the U.S. Senate to criticize harshly the Azerbaijani
despotic regime. Moreover, they not only criticize, but also require
to make corresponding conclusions.

No less interesting is the fact that the President of Azerbaijan tries
to counter the criticism from the West with his new political course.

Against the background of intensification of radical Islam, statements
are sounded from official Baku that Azerbaijan acts from the positions
of moderate Islam. Thus Aliyev makes it clear that tolerance should be
displayed towards the current Azerbaijani authorities. It is something
like this – we do not support radical Islam, therefore, we are not
against you, but you should not be against us either. Probably, this
fact claims to a major role in the political calculations of the ruling
clan, but at the same time, establishing a dialogue with the leadership
of this country, the West constantly raises the issue of democracy.

Almost parallel with the criticism of Senator Durbin against the
Azerbaijani political elite, the mass media informed about the visit
to Baku of Co-Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe (PACE) on Azerbaijan Pedro Agramunt, which got a wide
resonance in the Azerbaijani mass media. The PACE Co-Rapporteur’s
visit to Azerbaijan was scheduled for April 8-9 and was associated
with the report “Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the Council of Europe:
what actions should be taken in the sphere of human rights?”. The
report was to be prepared by him on behalf of the PACE Committee on
Legal Affairs and Human Rights. But, the visit of PACE Co-Rapporteur
on Azerbaijan Pedro Agramunt to Baku was postponed due to unforeseen
circumstances. During the visit, Agramunt’s meetings were scheduled
with the head of the President’s Administration, the Minister of
Justice, Prosecutor General, Chairman of the Supreme Court and other
officials. Agramunt had also to meet with the Working Group on Human
Rights. The PACE Committee entrusted Agramunt to prepare the report
yet in June 2014, after the numerous appeals of local activists on
the issue of political prisoners. This coincided with the beginning
of Azerbaijan’s chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the
Council of Europe. We believe it is quite clear why the noted European
structure recalls the issue of human rights violation in this country
– during Azerbaijan’s chairmanship, the situation was not improved,
moreover, it worsened: human rights defenders, informing the Council
of Europe about the issue of political prisoners, were arrested.

Ilham Aliyev’s situation is more than obvious: the leadership of the
country, conducting a sporting event of a European scale, should at
least strive for European values, which means that the international
community should again criticize the Azerbaijani regime and make it
realize that the respect for basic human rights is a priority.

Ruzan ISHKHANIAN

From: A. Papazian