TIME FOR SANCTIONS ON BAKU
AzeriReport
Oct 3 2014
As the West has turned its attention to the Islamic State and
the Ukraine crisis, the government of President Ilham Aliyev has
expanded its crackdown on dissenting voices in Azerbaijan with
harassment, threats, beatings, and arrests. Even American citizens
and international NGOs have bet caught up in the widening net of
repression. These actions demand a response.
By David J. Kramer and Richard Kauzlarich, The American Interest
WASHINGTON, DC. October 3, 2014: For years, Belarus’s leader Alexander
Lukashenka has been called Europe’s last dictator, although Vladimir
Putin is giving Lukashenka a run for his money, amidst the worst
crackdown on human rights in Russia in decades. And now we might also
add another leader in the region to the list: President Ilham Aliyev
of Azerbaijan.
After an accelerating series of arrests, Aliyev’s government now
holds nearly 100 political prisoners, roughly double the number in
Belarus and Russia combined. Beyond the raw numbers, Azerbaijan’s
authorities are also getting more thuggish in their handling of
critics, journalists, and opposition figures–as well as Westerners.
Statements of concern and criticism from Western and international
officials and organizations have fallen on deaf ears in Baku. Even
President Obama’s recent criticism of Azerbaijan’s treatment of NGOs
made no impact. To the contrary, there are now credible reports that
the Azerbaijani authorities plan to arrest investigative journalist
Khadija Ismayilova when she returns to Baku from a trip abroad. The
best way to try to reverse this disturbing trend is to impose penalties
on the Aliyev regime for its outrageous treatment of its own people.
Among the most egregious abuses are the July 30 arrests of civil
society activists Leyla and Arif Yunus, accused of spying for Armenian
secret services–implausible charges linked to the decades-old dispute
over Nagorno-Karabakh. On August 20, journalist Ilgar Nasibov was
savagely beaten into a state of unconsciousness while he was in
the office of a rights organization in the Naxcivan region. Several
leading opposition figures–including Ilgar Mamedov of the opposition
movement REAL and Tofig Yakublu of Musavat–languish in prison on
unsubstantiated charges.
American citizens and organizations are not immune from Azerbaijan’s
heavy-handed intolerance of dissenting voices. Said Nuri, an American
citizen of Azerbaijani origin, was recently blocked for nearly a
week from leaving Baku, after visiting his ailing father. The local
offices of several American and international non-governmental
organizations have been raided and/or their bank accounts frozen,
and their employees harassed including IREX, the National Democratic
Institute, Transparency International, and Oxfam. Several grantees of
the National Endowment for Democracy have been arrested, and numerous
others have had their accounts frozen.
Azerbaijan’s smear campaign has included U.S. officials, too. Recently
departed U.S. Ambassador Richard Morningstar was subjected to various
personal attacks by Azerbaijani government representatives, including
the Chief of the Presidential Administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev. Senate
staffers during a visit to Baku earlier this year were called “dogs”
by a prosecutor and “spies” by a parliamentarian after meeting with
Khadija Ismayilova.
Any individual or organization that criticizes Aliyev or promotes
democracy is viewed as hostile. Mehdiyev has characterized independent
media as “anti-Azerbaijani forces” financed from abroad.
The Council of Europe’s human rights chief, Nils Muiznieks,
slammed the Azerbaijani government earlier this month for the
“totally unacceptable” human rights situation, which, he said,
“flies in the face of the human rights obligations undertaken by
Azerbaijan” as a member of the Council. In August, several UN human
rights envoys said they were “appalled” by the growing number of
abuses and arrests of rights activists “on the basis of trumped-up
charges.” The “criminalization of rights activists must stop,” they
declared, calling for the release of the Yunuses and others.
For years, Azerbaijan’s oil and gas reserves insulated the country
from exposure for its abysmal human rights record. The West’s attention
lately has been focused on the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the challenge
of the Islamic State, giving the Aliyev regime a sense that it can
get away with its crackdown. To be safe, at last month’s NATO summit
it offered to take part in investment and reconstruction projects in
Afghanistan, betting that contributions to the allied effort would
buy it a pass on its internal situation. Azerbaijan has also thrown
around lots of the money it has earned from energy exports to buy
influence and friends in the West.
Azerbaijani authorities often argue that they live in a tough
neighborhood–sandwiched between Russia and Iran and with an unresolved
conflict with Armenia–and that this should excuse them for their
behavior. Geopolitics, however, shouldn’t shield Azerbaijan from
criticism for treating its citizens and Western organizations as
criminals.
It’s time, therefore, for the United States to apply a law modeled
on the 2012 Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law and Accountability Act to
authorities in Baku. A number of Azerbaijani activists have called for
such measures. Given the reported assets the Aliyev family and its
circle hold overseas, freezing their assets and denying them access
and travel to the West might just do the trick. The State Department
should also issue a travel warning to American citizens alerting them
of the surveillance, harassment, and possible detention they might
face in Azerbaijan.
At a time when Vladimir Putin is continuing Russia’s aggression
against Ukraine, some will argue that, for geopolitical reasons,
this is not the time for the United States to get tough on Azerbaijan.
There is never a good time to take such steps, but the situation inside
Azerbaijan demands a response now. Further Western expressions of
“concern” or characterizations of the situation as “unacceptable”
would sound increasingly hollow. The Aliyev regime must understand
that there are consequences for its abuses. -0-