Eurovision proved poor screen for Azerbaijan before West
Baku blames the European Parliament for conniving at Armenian lobby
which `uses every opportunity to slander’ Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan’s hopes that the Eurovision Song Contest would open wide if
not the whole world but at least Europe for it, were not to come
true.The European eyes did not fail to notice Aliyev’s dictatorship
behind a pompous façade. According to some estimates, Azerbaijan spent
USD 3 billion to host the Eurovision; still, the resolution on
“Violation of human rights, democracy and the rule of law” adopted by
the European Parliament on May 24 says that all actions aimed at
suppressing the freedom of expression and assembly in Azerbaijan
should stop immediately. Azerbaijan’s hosting of the 2012 Eurovision
Song Contest in its capital Baku on May 26 should be an opportunity
for it to show its commitment to democracy and human rights, it adds.
June 2, 2012
PanARMENIAN.Net – Citing reported attacks, harassment, threats and
imprisonment of journalists, human rights defenders and others seeking
to express their opinions, Parliament calls on the Azerbaijani
authorities to stop suppressing the freedom of expression and assembly
and to bring their legislation in these areas into line with
international standards.
Parliament urges the Azerbaijani authorities to step up reform efforts
in all areas of the judicial system, including prosecution, trial,
sentencing, detention and appeals.
MEPs also criticize the expropriation of hundreds of properties and
the forced eviction of thousands of people in the name of development
projects, including those in the neighborhood of Baku’s Crystal
Palace, the Eurovision Song Contest venue.
European Parliament calls on the EU’s High Representative for External
Relations Catherine Ashton, the Council and the Commission to monitor
the human rights situation in Azerbaijan after the Eurovision Song
Contest closely and calls on EU member states to consider targeted
sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations,
should these persist,’ the resolutions says.
Baku was prompt to respond to this. Naturally, it blamed the European
Parliament for conniving at Armenian lobby which `uses every
opportunity to slander’ Azerbaijan.
Frankly speaking, the Armenian lobby has nothing to do here:
Azerbaijani authorities will do the whole job. Now, let’s see the
statements of the Azerbaijani law-makers.
`I condemn the resolution passed by the European Parliament on May
24,’ Milli Mejlis speaker Oktay Asadov said at May 29 session.
According to him, Azerbaijan strives for cooperation but sees no
reciprocal moves. The speaker says adoption of such resolution in the
EU parliament is beyond understanding, particularly, as he claims,
after perfect organization of the Euronest session in Baku. Asadov
believes an anti-Azerbaijani campaign has been launched, and called on
MPs to voice their protest to this resolution.
MP Azay Guliyev said that mentioning the name of the country’s leader
in the resolution is a `biased approach’.
Head of Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Samed Seidov who dubbed this EP
paper as a result of actions of the Armenian lobby, suggested that the
country’s ties with the European structures be reviewed. According to
him, the Armenian lobby started acting and now seeks interference into
their domestic issues under the cover of human rights violations in
Azerbaijan.
A working group headed by deputy speaker Bahar Muradova is set up in
Milli Mejlis to prepare a letter of protest against the European
Parliament’s resolution of May 24.
Actually, Baku has a very powerful ally – the U.S – that does not care
for human rights and democracy in Azerbaijan; the only thing that
matters are energy resources and Baku’s striving to get away from
Russia.
According to Forbes, Reporters Without Borders ranks Azerbaijan 162nd
in the world, behind places like Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, i.e.
behind some of the most violently repressive regimes on the planet.
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index places Azerbaijan at
140th 117th place in the world. Azerbaijan is, according to this
measure, actually slightly more authoritarian than Belarus, a country
whose leadership is scorned with virtual unanimity by all Western
countries as being permanently stained by their dictatorial and
repressive ways.
`The point is that Azerbaijan is, by any reckoning, not just an simple
abuser of democratic rights and freedoms but a country that abuses
these rights far more comprehensively than Russia. If US policy were
genuinely aimed at promoting democracy, freedom, and the rule of law,
you would expect it to take an extremely hard line towards a nasty
sultanistic dictatorship like Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is an important energy producer and has been extremely
receptive to Western geopolitical interests: it makes perfect sense to
cultivate a close relationship with such a strategically positioned
and economically dynamic country. But the stench of hypocrisy is
overpowering.
Such transparent cynicism, basically a realist policy paired with a
democratist PR campaign, works against American interests in the
long-term. People in the region can see for themselves how selectively
the United States applies its `values’ and many will eventually come
to the mistaken, but perfectly plausible, conclusion that American
policy is never genuinely interested in democracy or liberty but
purely at the expansion of power. This is absolutely not the case,
many civil servants and State Department personnel, not to mention
many people working at NGOs and think tanks, have a perfectly sincere
desire to see countries become more democratic, but such extreme
inconsistency in American policy is both dangerous and unsustainable,’
says Forbes.
Well, hardly anything else can be added to the above-said. Just one
note: over the past few years Baku keeps seeking for an `Armenian
track’ in all world media reports, which in fact reflect the reality
of the contemporary `oil sultanate’.
Maybe they’d better consider improving their own image instead of
fooling their people with `enemy images’, number one of them being the
Armenians, of course. It is even ridiculous that the 9-million
Azerbaijan fears a country with just 3 mln population. Perhaps, the
fears are grounded then, and the defeat in Nagorno Karabakh war taught
no lesson to the Aliyev clan.
Karine Ter-Sahakian
From: Baghdasarian