Berlin/25.08.18/Turan: On the eve of the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Baku, the federal human rights commissioner, Berbel Kofler, noted the unsatisfactory situation with observance of human rights in Azerbaijan. Civil rights in this country "are still in many cases limited, like freedom of the media, assembly and words," the politician said on Friday, August 24.
The situation with human rights in Azerbaijan is "generally problematic," Kofler said. Representatives of the opposition, human rights activists and critical journalists are "intimidated by threats, detentions, and in some cases – by harassment by the judiciary," Kofler of Deutsche Welle radio quotes.
Those who openly criticize the government, are imprisoned or fired from the civil service, the family members of political activists who have left the country are under pressure.
"But precisely because of the above, it is extremely important for me that Germany continues regular and direct communication with the Azerbaijani authorities," Berbel Kofler stressed. The federal government and the European Union, according to her, should use their communication channels in Azerbaijan to remind them of the need to respect human rights in this country.
The visit to Azerbaijan on August 25 is the final stage of Angela Merkel's trip to the countries of the South Caucasus. Previously, the Chancellor visited Georgia and Armenia.
In Baku, the head of the German government will meet with President Ilham Aliyev.
According to the AFP agency, Azerbaijan is primarily interested in Germany as an energy supplier. Its significance in this context is likely to increase even more thanks to the construction of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline, which will extend through the territories of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to the Greek border. It is assumed that with the help of this pipeline it will be possible to somewhat reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas.
Merkel's trip to Azerbaijan before the arrival in the country was overshadowed by the fact that Baku banned the entry into the country as part of the German delegation to the deputy of the Bundestag, Albert Weiler, who holds the post of deputy chairman of the parliamentary group for Transcaucasia. The reason for the decision was that in the past, Weiler repeatedly visited Nagorno-Karabakh. Despite this, Merkel decided not to cancel the visit to the Azerbaijani capital. -0-