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  • EU And Azerbaijan: Setting The Record Straight PDF Print E-Mail

    EU AND AZERBAIJAN: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT PDF PRINT E-MAIL

    AzeriReport , Azerbaijan
    Aug 6 2013

    By Eldar Mamedov, Eurasianet.org

    BAKU. August 8, 2013: At a cabinet meeting in mid-July, Azerbaijani
    President Ilham Aliyev lashed out at the European Parliament for
    supposedly conducting a "dirty campaign" against Baku. The shrill tone
    of Aliyev's comments indicate that European pressure on Azerbaijan
    to respect basic rights is stinging the Aliyev administration.

    The latest EU parliamentary resolution critical of Azerbaijan came
    in June, when European officials called for the release of Ilgar
    Mammadov, a jailed leader of the opposition Republican Alternative
    movement. Euro-criticism in 2012 included the loud and public
    condemnation by European MPs of an officially orchestrated smear
    campaign against independent investigative journalist Khadija
    Ismailova.

    Aliyev, who is expected to travel to Brussels to confer with top EU
    officials in the fall, showed himself to be sensitive to criticism. At
    the July cabinet meeting, he dismissed the recent European assessments
    of Azerbaijani policy as the work of a jealous few. "There are still
    prejudiced people, [European] parliamentarians who do not accept
    Azerbaijan's success, and they are systematically trying to make
    attacks on Azerbaijan," he groused, according to comments broadcast
    on state television.

    While official statements critical of Baku's behavior have succeeded in
    vexing government officials, if European criticism is actually going
    to be effective in getting Aliyev & Co. to change its authoritarian
    ways, it's important for European officials to dispel some persistent
    myths among Azerbaijani policymakers surrounding EU actions.

    Here are a few widely held assumptions in Baku that European officials
    should keep in mind as they consider taking the next steps:

    1) European criticism of Azerbaijanīs human rights record is
    the work of the pro-Armenian lobby and other actors who wish to
    undermine Azerbaijanīs "independent foreign policy". Not true. There
    is no evidence that the members of the European Parliament who are
    critical of Azerbaijanīs rights practices have any connections to the
    Armenian lobby or to Russia, which is believed to want to re-integrate
    Azerbaijan into its own sphere of political and economic influence. In
    fact, some critical Euro MPs, such as the Austrian Green Ulrike
    Lunacek, are on record as demanding the withdrawal of Armenian forces
    from occupied Azerbaijani territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh.

    The reason for European criticisms is simple: the situation of the
    human rights is deteriorating, in spite of the commitments undertaken
    voluntarily by Azerbaijan. When the EU offers criticism, it is simply
    assessing the country on its own merits.

    2) Demands for democratization and respect for human rights are nothing
    but a smokescreen to promote the regime change. Not by a long shot. The
    last thing the EU wants is a new source of instability in an already
    combustible part of the world. In fact, the EU is quite comfortable
    with the Aliyev administration, as long as it delivers on energy
    cooperation and regional security -- particularly counter-terrorism,
    Afghanistan and Iran. But for the sake of its own credibility, the EU
    cannot completely ignore human rights issues. It is also in the EUīs
    self-interest: it needs a government in Baku with enhanced domestic
    legitimacy as its partner. Its message to Aliyev seems to be: better
    to start reforms today, while you can manage a controlled transition
    from a position of strength, rather than to risk a popular explosion
    tomorrow. But if the government persists in tightening the screws,
    and in the meantime, a viable opposition emerges, the calculus might
    shift in favor of the latter.

    3) Azerbaijan is unfairly singled out and is a victim of double
    standards. Yes, there are double standards, but they actually work
    in favor of Azerbaijan. For instance, the European consensus holds
    that Belarus has nine political prisoners. In Azerbaijan, there are
    at least several dozens of them. Yet several Belarussian officials
    are subjected to EU travel bans and an asset freeze, while the EU has
    never even considered similar measures against Azerbaijani officials.

    Furthermore, ODIHR, the OSCE's democracy watchdog, has never recognized
    presidential and parliamentary elections in both Belarus and Azerbaijan
    as free and fair. But it is only the Belarussian parliament that is not
    recognized as such by the European Parliament, and which is banned from
    participation in EURONEST, the parliamentary dimension of the Eastern
    Partnership. Azerbaijanīs Milli Mejlis delegation, on the other hand,
    enjoys full participation rights in inter-parliamentary bodies.

    4) The EU ignores the Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands and the
    human rights of Azerbaijani IDPs. Not true. The European Parliament
    adopted a resolution in 2010 on the need for an EU strategy in the
    South Caucasus (known as the Kirilov Report) in which it clearly calls
    for the withdrawal of Armenian forces from all occupied territories of
    Azerbaijan, and upholds the right to return for Azerbaijani IDPs. In
    2012, in addition to these demands, the European Parliament for
    the first time linked the conclusion of association agreements with
    Armenia to progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks, including the
    withdrawal from occupied territories of Azerbaijan and return of IDPs.

    Of course, Azerbaijan could have won more converts to its cause had it
    stopped sending wrong messages, such as the pardon and promotion of
    Ramil Safarov, an army officer guilty of the murder of an Armenian
    counterpart, and the state-orchestrated campaign against Akram
    Aylisli, a writer who dared to depict a more nuanced picture of the
    Azeri-Armenian conflict than is usually accepted in Azerbaijan.

    5) There is no point in satisfying EU demands, since Azerbaijan will
    never be admitted to the EU anyway. Too simplistic. It is true that
    the EU has lost its appetite for enlargement, and the example of
    Turkey's stalled candidacy lends credence to this assertion. But
    current fiscal troubles will not last forever, and Europeans
    might still change their mind on enlargement. Meanwhile, there are
    other forms of association with the EU that can be beneficial for
    Azerbaijan, such as association agreement, free-trade agreement and
    visa liberalization. Most importantly, reforms that conform to EU
    norms are needed not to satisfy Brussels, but to improve the quality
    of life of Azerbaijanis. If implemented consistently, they might
    even help Azerbaijan to win over hearts and minds of the residents
    of Nagorno-Karabakh, and solve the long-festering conflict on terms
    that are more favorable to Baku.-0-

    * Eldar Mamedov is a political adviser to the Socialists & Democrats
    Group in the European Parliament, who writes in his personal capacity.

    http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4081&Ite mid=48




    From: A. Papazian
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