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LIBERO: ITALY DEFENDS ITS INTERESTS BUT LEGITIMIZES ALIYEVS DICTATORSHIP
19:20 25/02/2014 >> IN THE WORLD
Luciano Capone, a columnist of a prestigious Italian newspaper Libero
in today's issue touches upon the "caviar diplomacy" carried out in
Italy by Azerbaijani petrodollars and the results of that diplomacy.
He concludes that Italy by its behavior legitimizes one of the most
authoritarian regimes of the world which besides violating elementary
rights of its citizens threatens neighboring Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh.
"Oil and repression of Armenians: Italian "tifosi" (fans) of the
dictatorship in Azerbaijan" article by Luciano Capone is presented
below.
"Azerbaijan is a country in the Caucasus that since the collapse
of the Soviet Union, for more than twenty years, has been ruled by
the Aliyev dynasty: for 10 years the patriarch, Heyder Aliyev, has
been the president and founder of the dynasty, then in 2003 his son
Ilham became president and is now ruling for his third consecutive
presidential term.
Azerbaijan is one of the most authoritarian states in the world, as
it stands on the lowest ranks of any international index on economic,
political or press freedom. It is a despotic regime that should be
isolated because of the systematic violations of the most elementary
rights.
Still, the kingdom of Aliyev is not as isolated as it deserves to be,
because the country is rich in oil and gas. Italy, in particular,
has a special relationship: it is the largest trading partner and has
just signed an agreement for the construction of Tap, a pipeline that
will connect the Caucasian republic to Apulia (southern Italy).
But in addition to economic relations, Azeris are very active with
their petrodollars in Europe and in Italy, in their efforts to hide
the authoritarian nature of the government and to establish a positive
and democratic image of the regime.
The ESI (European Stability Initiative) has coined this activity as
"caviar diplomacy" and has addressed the matter in several reports
starting from 2012. The last one was released in November 2013 and
was entitled "Azerbaijan and the end of election monitoring as we
know it". Names of pro-Azerbaijani Italian politicians, among others,
appear in the report. For instance, the MEP Fiorello Provera of Lega
Nord Party voted against the resolution of the European Parliament
condemning the government of Azerbaijan for the arrest of two
bloggers. Another politician of Lega Nord, Senator Sergio Divina (ed.
Head of Italy-Azerbaijan Friendship Group), said he was pleased with
the involvement of women in politics during the last presidential
elections in Azerbaijan even if all the candidates were male. The
report displays the name of Pino Arlacchi (formerly PDS, IDV and
now Socialist MEP) as well. As head of the European Parliament's
monitoring mission for ensuring the regularity of the Azerbaijani
presidential elections, which OSCE defined as irregular, Arlacchi
stated that the elections that reconfirmed Ilham Aliyev with almost
85% of the votes were "free, fair and transparent".
Finally, among Italians committed to spread the thesis shared by the
Azerbaijani government, it is worth mentioning the work of the Italian
Helsinki Committee, led by Antonio Stango, a member of Radical Party.
During the last months, the Italian Helsinki Committee was quite
dedicated in the promotion of Azeri interests, as it recently
organized a meeting on "Khojaly massacre", a tragic episode of the
Nagorno -Karabakh war, which saw the small Armenian-Christian enclave
to struggle for independence against Azerbaijan. The story of the
massacre of Khojaly is extremely controversial. Azerbaijan accuses
the Armenians, while, according to Armenians the responsibility is
of the Azerbaijanis. Still, the reconstruction of events should have
pleased the Azerbaijani ambassador to Italy to such an extent to feel
free to accuse the Armenians of "genocide" for the death of hundreds
of civilians. It was an obvious provocation against the Armenians,
survivors of the first genocide in history perpetrated by Muslim
Turks against them.
While it is correct to defend the Italian economic and energetic
interests, but to legitimize a dictatorship that over the past 5
years has increased its military spending by 2.500 % and threatens
to attack Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh is too much."
http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2014/02/25/libero/
19:20 25/02/2014 >> IN THE WORLD
Luciano Capone, a columnist of a prestigious Italian newspaper Libero
in today's issue touches upon the "caviar diplomacy" carried out in
Italy by Azerbaijani petrodollars and the results of that diplomacy.
He concludes that Italy by its behavior legitimizes one of the most
authoritarian regimes of the world which besides violating elementary
rights of its citizens threatens neighboring Armenia and Nagorno
Karabakh.
"Oil and repression of Armenians: Italian "tifosi" (fans) of the
dictatorship in Azerbaijan" article by Luciano Capone is presented
below.
"Azerbaijan is a country in the Caucasus that since the collapse
of the Soviet Union, for more than twenty years, has been ruled by
the Aliyev dynasty: for 10 years the patriarch, Heyder Aliyev, has
been the president and founder of the dynasty, then in 2003 his son
Ilham became president and is now ruling for his third consecutive
presidential term.
Azerbaijan is one of the most authoritarian states in the world, as
it stands on the lowest ranks of any international index on economic,
political or press freedom. It is a despotic regime that should be
isolated because of the systematic violations of the most elementary
rights.
Still, the kingdom of Aliyev is not as isolated as it deserves to be,
because the country is rich in oil and gas. Italy, in particular,
has a special relationship: it is the largest trading partner and has
just signed an agreement for the construction of Tap, a pipeline that
will connect the Caucasian republic to Apulia (southern Italy).
But in addition to economic relations, Azeris are very active with
their petrodollars in Europe and in Italy, in their efforts to hide
the authoritarian nature of the government and to establish a positive
and democratic image of the regime.
The ESI (European Stability Initiative) has coined this activity as
"caviar diplomacy" and has addressed the matter in several reports
starting from 2012. The last one was released in November 2013 and
was entitled "Azerbaijan and the end of election monitoring as we
know it". Names of pro-Azerbaijani Italian politicians, among others,
appear in the report. For instance, the MEP Fiorello Provera of Lega
Nord Party voted against the resolution of the European Parliament
condemning the government of Azerbaijan for the arrest of two
bloggers. Another politician of Lega Nord, Senator Sergio Divina (ed.
Head of Italy-Azerbaijan Friendship Group), said he was pleased with
the involvement of women in politics during the last presidential
elections in Azerbaijan even if all the candidates were male. The
report displays the name of Pino Arlacchi (formerly PDS, IDV and
now Socialist MEP) as well. As head of the European Parliament's
monitoring mission for ensuring the regularity of the Azerbaijani
presidential elections, which OSCE defined as irregular, Arlacchi
stated that the elections that reconfirmed Ilham Aliyev with almost
85% of the votes were "free, fair and transparent".
Finally, among Italians committed to spread the thesis shared by the
Azerbaijani government, it is worth mentioning the work of the Italian
Helsinki Committee, led by Antonio Stango, a member of Radical Party.
During the last months, the Italian Helsinki Committee was quite
dedicated in the promotion of Azeri interests, as it recently
organized a meeting on "Khojaly massacre", a tragic episode of the
Nagorno -Karabakh war, which saw the small Armenian-Christian enclave
to struggle for independence against Azerbaijan. The story of the
massacre of Khojaly is extremely controversial. Azerbaijan accuses
the Armenians, while, according to Armenians the responsibility is
of the Azerbaijanis. Still, the reconstruction of events should have
pleased the Azerbaijani ambassador to Italy to such an extent to feel
free to accuse the Armenians of "genocide" for the death of hundreds
of civilians. It was an obvious provocation against the Armenians,
survivors of the first genocide in history perpetrated by Muslim
Turks against them.
While it is correct to defend the Italian economic and energetic
interests, but to legitimize a dictatorship that over the past 5
years has increased its military spending by 2.500 % and threatens
to attack Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh is too much."
http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2014/02/25/libero/