Tweet
Nezavisimaya Gazeta (in Russian), Russia
Nov 8 2013
AZERBAIJAN HAS WITHDRAWN FROM THE EURO-NEST
by Sohbet Mamedov
Baku accuses Brussels and Washington of bias
Azerbaijan has suspended participation in the work of the Euro-Nest
Parliamentary Assembly as a protest against Point 32 of the resolution
of the European Parliament, which is critical of the recent
presidential elections in Azerbaijan.
Baku's demarche took place in Kiev that recently hosted the Assembly
Bureau meeting. Head of the Azerbaijani delegation Elkhan Suleymanov
issued a statement, which noted that thus Baku "voiced its protest
against a series of unprecedented attacks on Azerbaijan on the part of
the organization designed to be a symbol of friendship, trust and
cooperation".
Specifically, the statement of the head of the Azerbaijani delegation
reads as follows: "In Paragraph 32 of the recently adopted resolution
on European neighborhood policy the European Parliament demonstrated
disrespect and distrust of the election of its mission to monitor the
elections and, based on the results of one of the OSCE Offices - OSCE
ODIHR, assessed the election as "OSCE sub-standard". The question is
what the real position of the European Parliament is. Does it want to
cooperate with Azerbaijan, to create peace and stability in the South
Caucasus? Does it recognize its reports and delegations? What is it
aiming at by ignoring its official observer mission creating such an
abnormal situation for the partner, which has never occurred before in
the practice of the European Parliament and other international
organizations?"
In the end, the statement included two conditions.
Firstly, "the Azerbaijani side has to consider a future format of
cooperation with the Euro-Nest PA, until the causes of the point have
been investigated, and the appropriate measures have been taken".
Secondly, "during the co-chairing of the Euro-Nest PA by Armenia, an
Eastern Partnership member state that occupied Azerbaijani
territories, Azerbaijan suspends activities in this structure until
the liberation of the occupied territories".
Just for you to remember that the Euro-Nest Parliamentary Assembly is
a component of the EU "Eastern Partnership" initiative. The Assembly
includes 60 MEPs and 10 MPs from each country participating in the
initiative (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and
Ukraine).
Noteworthy, despite the positive assessment of the outcome of the
presidential elections in Azerbaijan by almost all the observer
missions of international organizations, the position taken by the
ODIHR and the OSCE voiced by the US State Department and the British
Foreign Office was perceived in Baku as fabricated by Washington that
was allegedly trying to impose its interests on the republic.
Evidence of the biased attitude of Washington to the processes taking
place in Azerbaijan was the disclosure of the fact of allocating USD
300,000 to the Center for Election Monitoring and Democracy Training
from the funds close to the US National Democratic Institute.
According to haqqin.az, this center is headed by opposition figure
Anar Mamedli, who sharply criticizes the policy of Ilham Aliyev's
government.
The edition notes: "By a strange coincidence, the Center's assessment
coincided with the findings of the ODIHR controversial report that
announced the recent presidential elections in Azerbaijan not meeting
international standards. Despite the fact that there are dozens of
centers for the monitoring of the elections in Azerbaijan, the US
government chose that very opposition structure acting in conjunction
and in close cooperation with one of the actors of the political
struggle - the opposition National Council". Commenting on the
situation, former presidential candidate and current parliament member
Zahid Orudj said that "through its embassies, NDI, IRI and various
NGOs, the United States is trying to put pressure on sovereign
states... In other words, under the pretext of defending democracy,
Washington is actually trying to interfere in the internal affairs of
Azerbaijan. To achieve this, hundreds of thousands of dollars are
allocated for the Azerbaijani opposition".
(...) Last March, there was a disagreement between the Government of
Azerbaijan and the US National Democratic Institute because of the
illegal activity of Institute head Alex Grigorievs in Baku. It was
discovered that during his two-year activities in Azerbaijan
Grigorievs provided financial support worth over USD 1 million to the
opposition favoring the overthrow of the current government. At that
time, after a lot of sorting out, the scandal was hushed up.
[Translated from Russian]
Nov 8 2013
AZERBAIJAN HAS WITHDRAWN FROM THE EURO-NEST
by Sohbet Mamedov
Baku accuses Brussels and Washington of bias
Azerbaijan has suspended participation in the work of the Euro-Nest
Parliamentary Assembly as a protest against Point 32 of the resolution
of the European Parliament, which is critical of the recent
presidential elections in Azerbaijan.
Baku's demarche took place in Kiev that recently hosted the Assembly
Bureau meeting. Head of the Azerbaijani delegation Elkhan Suleymanov
issued a statement, which noted that thus Baku "voiced its protest
against a series of unprecedented attacks on Azerbaijan on the part of
the organization designed to be a symbol of friendship, trust and
cooperation".
Specifically, the statement of the head of the Azerbaijani delegation
reads as follows: "In Paragraph 32 of the recently adopted resolution
on European neighborhood policy the European Parliament demonstrated
disrespect and distrust of the election of its mission to monitor the
elections and, based on the results of one of the OSCE Offices - OSCE
ODIHR, assessed the election as "OSCE sub-standard". The question is
what the real position of the European Parliament is. Does it want to
cooperate with Azerbaijan, to create peace and stability in the South
Caucasus? Does it recognize its reports and delegations? What is it
aiming at by ignoring its official observer mission creating such an
abnormal situation for the partner, which has never occurred before in
the practice of the European Parliament and other international
organizations?"
In the end, the statement included two conditions.
Firstly, "the Azerbaijani side has to consider a future format of
cooperation with the Euro-Nest PA, until the causes of the point have
been investigated, and the appropriate measures have been taken".
Secondly, "during the co-chairing of the Euro-Nest PA by Armenia, an
Eastern Partnership member state that occupied Azerbaijani
territories, Azerbaijan suspends activities in this structure until
the liberation of the occupied territories".
Just for you to remember that the Euro-Nest Parliamentary Assembly is
a component of the EU "Eastern Partnership" initiative. The Assembly
includes 60 MEPs and 10 MPs from each country participating in the
initiative (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and
Ukraine).
Noteworthy, despite the positive assessment of the outcome of the
presidential elections in Azerbaijan by almost all the observer
missions of international organizations, the position taken by the
ODIHR and the OSCE voiced by the US State Department and the British
Foreign Office was perceived in Baku as fabricated by Washington that
was allegedly trying to impose its interests on the republic.
Evidence of the biased attitude of Washington to the processes taking
place in Azerbaijan was the disclosure of the fact of allocating USD
300,000 to the Center for Election Monitoring and Democracy Training
from the funds close to the US National Democratic Institute.
According to haqqin.az, this center is headed by opposition figure
Anar Mamedli, who sharply criticizes the policy of Ilham Aliyev's
government.
The edition notes: "By a strange coincidence, the Center's assessment
coincided with the findings of the ODIHR controversial report that
announced the recent presidential elections in Azerbaijan not meeting
international standards. Despite the fact that there are dozens of
centers for the monitoring of the elections in Azerbaijan, the US
government chose that very opposition structure acting in conjunction
and in close cooperation with one of the actors of the political
struggle - the opposition National Council". Commenting on the
situation, former presidential candidate and current parliament member
Zahid Orudj said that "through its embassies, NDI, IRI and various
NGOs, the United States is trying to put pressure on sovereign
states... In other words, under the pretext of defending democracy,
Washington is actually trying to interfere in the internal affairs of
Azerbaijan. To achieve this, hundreds of thousands of dollars are
allocated for the Azerbaijani opposition".
(...) Last March, there was a disagreement between the Government of
Azerbaijan and the US National Democratic Institute because of the
illegal activity of Institute head Alex Grigorievs in Baku. It was
discovered that during his two-year activities in Azerbaijan
Grigorievs provided financial support worth over USD 1 million to the
opposition favoring the overthrow of the current government. At that
time, after a lot of sorting out, the scandal was hushed up.
[Translated from Russian]