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The Economist: Since joining the CoE Azerbaijan has used ``caviar diplomacy''
http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2013/03/23/economist-azerbaijan/
15:14 23/03/2013 » REGION
Though in theory only democratic countries can join the Council of
Europe (CoE), which promotes human rights, Azerbaijan has been a
member since 2001, the British `The Economist' writes.
`Council of Europe members hoped that membership would accelerate
Azerbaijan's democratic transition. That has not happened. Indeed,
political manipulation of elections may have increased over the past
decade. In a blistering report published last year, the European
Stability Initiative, a think-tank, called Azerbaijan's 2010
parliamentary elections the most flawed ever in the CoE's member
states.
According to Freedom House Azerbaijan is not really a democratic
country, the article says. `Since the early 1990s, it says, elections
have been deeply flawed. Parliament is rubber-stamping the
government's decisions. Corruption is widespread,' The Economist says.
Azerbaijan's international significance lies in its energy resources
and strategic location. Over the past decade, western diplomats have
been quick to pull their punches over thorny human rights issues.
`Yet this is not merely a story of western indifference. Since joining
the council, the ESI argues, Azerbaijan has used `caviar diplomacy',
including gifts, free trips and money, to create a group of apologists
within PACE who consistently act in its interests and render the
assembly impotent,' the article says.
Following the deeply flawed 2005 parliamentary elections, some council
members argued that PACE should suspend the Azerbaijani delegation's
voting rights. Five years later, it couldn't even manage that: despite
widespread violations in the 2010 parliamentary elections, PACE
election monitors found far more positives in that year's
parliamentary elections than observers from the Office of Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
`Is PACE's adoption of a recent monitoring report on implementation of
Azerbaijan's commitments to the council, written by Pedro Agramunt and
Joseph Debono Grech, a step in the right direction?' the The Economist
wonders and notes that according to ESI Mr. Agramunt a long-standing
`defender of the Aliyev regime.'
By far the most divisive issue is political prisoners, the article
says. In December 2009, PACE asked Christoph Straesser, a German
member, to define the term officially. `Despite being refused a visa
to visit Azerbaijan three times, Mr Straesser wrote a monitoring
report on the situation of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, which
PACE debated on January 23rd. Arguments were polarized. Some delegates
called Azerbaijan's refusal to let Mr. Straesser visit unacceptable;
others claimed his report therefore lacked credibility,' the article
says.
Yet three days after PACE rejected Mr. Straesser's report, the courts
in Baku sentenced five more demonstrators to prison, the article says.
`While a record number of people voted against Mr. Straesser's report,
many others voted for it. A growing number of people are worried by
Azerbaijan's antics. According to Amnesty International, the
government is cracking down on dissent in the run up to presidential
elections in October this year. In February, it locked up Illgar
Mammadov, a presidential candidate, for `organising' apparently
spontaneous riots in the town of Ismayili in January. Last week, the
authorities jailed an independent journalist for nine years,' the
publication says.
It says that Azerbaijan is due to assume the chairmanship of the
council's Committee of Ministers in May 2014. `The Council of Europe's
credibility is on the line,' The Economist says.
Source: Panorama.am
http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2013/03/23/economist-azerbaijan/
15:14 23/03/2013 » REGION
Though in theory only democratic countries can join the Council of
Europe (CoE), which promotes human rights, Azerbaijan has been a
member since 2001, the British `The Economist' writes.
`Council of Europe members hoped that membership would accelerate
Azerbaijan's democratic transition. That has not happened. Indeed,
political manipulation of elections may have increased over the past
decade. In a blistering report published last year, the European
Stability Initiative, a think-tank, called Azerbaijan's 2010
parliamentary elections the most flawed ever in the CoE's member
states.
According to Freedom House Azerbaijan is not really a democratic
country, the article says. `Since the early 1990s, it says, elections
have been deeply flawed. Parliament is rubber-stamping the
government's decisions. Corruption is widespread,' The Economist says.
Azerbaijan's international significance lies in its energy resources
and strategic location. Over the past decade, western diplomats have
been quick to pull their punches over thorny human rights issues.
`Yet this is not merely a story of western indifference. Since joining
the council, the ESI argues, Azerbaijan has used `caviar diplomacy',
including gifts, free trips and money, to create a group of apologists
within PACE who consistently act in its interests and render the
assembly impotent,' the article says.
Following the deeply flawed 2005 parliamentary elections, some council
members argued that PACE should suspend the Azerbaijani delegation's
voting rights. Five years later, it couldn't even manage that: despite
widespread violations in the 2010 parliamentary elections, PACE
election monitors found far more positives in that year's
parliamentary elections than observers from the Office of Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
`Is PACE's adoption of a recent monitoring report on implementation of
Azerbaijan's commitments to the council, written by Pedro Agramunt and
Joseph Debono Grech, a step in the right direction?' the The Economist
wonders and notes that according to ESI Mr. Agramunt a long-standing
`defender of the Aliyev regime.'
By far the most divisive issue is political prisoners, the article
says. In December 2009, PACE asked Christoph Straesser, a German
member, to define the term officially. `Despite being refused a visa
to visit Azerbaijan three times, Mr Straesser wrote a monitoring
report on the situation of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, which
PACE debated on January 23rd. Arguments were polarized. Some delegates
called Azerbaijan's refusal to let Mr. Straesser visit unacceptable;
others claimed his report therefore lacked credibility,' the article
says.
Yet three days after PACE rejected Mr. Straesser's report, the courts
in Baku sentenced five more demonstrators to prison, the article says.
`While a record number of people voted against Mr. Straesser's report,
many others voted for it. A growing number of people are worried by
Azerbaijan's antics. According to Amnesty International, the
government is cracking down on dissent in the run up to presidential
elections in October this year. In February, it locked up Illgar
Mammadov, a presidential candidate, for `organising' apparently
spontaneous riots in the town of Ismayili in January. Last week, the
authorities jailed an independent journalist for nine years,' the
publication says.
It says that Azerbaijan is due to assume the chairmanship of the
council's Committee of Ministers in May 2014. `The Council of Europe's
credibility is on the line,' The Economist says.
Source: Panorama.am