European Union News
November 9, 2013 Saturday
Is Aberystwyth acting as Azerbaijan stooge?
London
Office of the MP Paul Flynn, UK Government has issued the following
news release:
Aberystwyth University is adrift from its moral compass. Has this
revered institution become a stooge of an odious repressive regime?
To Aberystwyth’s John Grattan “an outstanding and high quality
partner’ but it’s a front for academic suppression.
Azeri Government condemned by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International, US Governmnent & OSCE: approved by Aberystwyth
University.
Aberystwyth students to learn democracy in Azerbaijan, 139th of 167
in world for democratic rights! Election results before votes cast.
Naive Aberystwyth University collaborates with Azerbaijan to import
hand-picked student ambassadors for their foul oppressive regime.
Weak defence of Aberystwyth exchanges with Azerbaijan that jails
students, condones racial murder, rigs elections & persecutes
oppositions.
In August of this year, Aberystwyth University announced that it had
signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Azerbaijan Diplomatic
Academy (ADA).
They claimed that this was to promote academic and cultural
cooperation between the two institutions. The two institutions have
also signed a formal Exchange Agreement which means that students from
both institutions will be able to study at the partner institution for
either one semester or one academic year. Under the agreement,
Aberystwyth will receive two students from the Azerbaijan Diplomatic
Academy every year.
ADA however is an arm of the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and is heavily funded by the government. Therefore there can be real
concerns about a project that
involves a country that is ranked 139th out of 167 for democratic
rights and is rated as `not free’ in US freedom house rankings which
measure democracy and freedom.
The regime led by President Aliyev since 2003 has become increasingly
totalitarian and is heavily criticised by many human rights bodies.
The country is rich in natural resources and for this reason has
managed to avoid much criticism from states which rely on its oil such
as the UK. It is now looking to cement its place on the world stage by
spending vast amounts of its funds on `caviar diplomacy’ in which it
tries to make itself seem more palatable to the outside world. In
reality though the government is one that has little interest in the
established universal ideals of human rights and rule of law.
A particularly extraordinary example of this is that of Ramil Safarov
who hacked an Armenian to death in Hungary in 2004 while on a NATO run
course. Safarov killed his victim after he claimed he was insulted by
him. He attacked the Armenian with an axe while he was sleeping.
Hungary released Sarafov in 2012 only after they had been promised
that his sentence would be enforced in Azerbaijan. However on his
return Safarov was given a full pardon, a hero’s welcome, and was
promoted to major in the army. A man guilty of a cowardly racial
murder freed and elevated to the status of a national hero.
The human rights abuses and clamp downs on any anti government
activities particularly intensified in the lead up to the recent
presidential elections of October 2013. Oppositions were restricted in
where they could hold meetings and demonstrations and experienced
repeated disruptions to their campaigns. Dozens of political activists
were arrested on bogus charges according to Human Rights Watch.
Two opposition leaders in Azerbaijan, Ilgar Mammadov and Tofiq
Yaqublu, werecharged with staging riots in the town of Ismayilli.
Supporters of Mammadov and Yaqublu said they had nothing to do with a
protest sparked by local concerns, and were being framed by the
authorities. Mammadov, chairman of the REAL (Republican Alternative)
movement, and Yaqublu, deputy chairman of the Musavat Party, were
arrested and charged on February 4. If found guilty, both could face
up to twelve years in jail. Rachel Denber from Human Rights watch said
that `In the past year Azerbaijan’s government has launched an
unprecedented crackdown on critics…. Ilgar Mammadov and Tofig
Yagublu are among the victims of Azerbaijan’s dragnet to silence
dissent.’ During a pre trial hearing Mammadov told a judge that he was
promised release if he wrote a letter of apology to President Aliyev
indicating theseriousness of the abuse of democracy that is ongoing.
Amnesty International has declared them prisoners of conscience. They
have now been imprisoned for ten months
The Aliyev regime also tries to create charges for the opposition in
other ways. From May 2012 to May 213 at least six government critics
were arrested on drug charges. On each occasion the charges were based
on narcotics found by the police following arrests for other offences.
No lawyers were present during the searches. Following the arrests the
victims were questioned mainly about their criticism of the
government. Their lawyers reported that they had been beaten with
bruises and cuts to the face to prove the matter.
Following all of these abuses, it is no surprise to find that the
actual elections gainedconsiderable condemnation. The OSCE described
it as a `deeply flawed’ election. Inan almost unbelievable example of
these problems, President Aliyev was announced as victor on a
government phone app the day before voting began. There was also
evidence of ballot box stuffing, intentional miscounting and numerous
other procedural failings.
However, restrictions do not only apply to elections. Freedom of the
press is severely restricted and dozens of journalists have been
prosecuted and then imprisoned or fined in the past six years. A
leading investigative journalist, Khadija Ismayilova, has been
subjected to a smear campaign in which a camera was secretly put in
her bedroom, most recently in a newspaper associated with the ruling
party, in retaliation for her anti-corruption reporting. The BBC is
not broadcast in the country and anyopposition or independent media is
again severely restricted. The government iskeen to ensure that any
rumblings of discontent are quickly wiped out.
Academic freedom
According to a report by the Scholars At Risk Network, the independent
Azad Fikir University (Free Thought University) was shut down by local
police in April 2013 in connection with an investigation into an
opposition student group, after which the University’s lease on their
building was terminated, leaving them homeless for the upcoming
academic year. According to the Network, AFU is funded largely by
international organizations and the US and UK governments, and is
`dedicated to promoting democracy and human rights’ in Azerbaijan.
International human rights organisation Freedom House devote a section
of their 2012 report to academic freedom in the country:
`The authorities have linked academic freedom to political activity in
recent years. Some professors and teachers have reported being
dismissed for links to opposition groups, and students have faced
threats of lowered grades for similar reasons. In April 2011, a
student was expelled from Baku State University and banned from
further study after participating in protests, and a university
professor was demoted after criticizing the arrest of a youth
activist.’
The 2013 report by Freedom House describes Azerbaijan as `not an
electoral democracy’ where elections are considered `neither free nor
fair’ by international observers. Freedom House describe corruption as
`widespread’, and `critical institutions’, including the media and
judiciary, as `largely subservient’ to the president and ruling party.
At a time when these problems are not only continuing but are actually
real questions can be asked as to why a university with a proud
history in international politics is choosing to engage with a regime
that is consistently violating human rights and is using caviar
diplomacy to establish itself on the international scene.
POLITICAL PRISONERS IN AZERBAIJAN
Session: 2013-14
Date tabled: 06.11.2013
Primary sponsor: Flynn, Paul
Sponsors:
That this House observes that the already dire situation of human
rights abuses in Azerbaijan has deteriorated further in the past year;
is appalled that the ten-month imprisonment on trumped-up charges of
two opposition politicians continues; and calls on the Government to
make representations on behalf of Ilgar Mammadov and Yeni Musavat,
plus many others imprisoned for political reasons by the Aliyev
regime.
AZERBAIJAN ELECTION
Session: 2013-14
Date tabled: 24.10.2013
Primary sponsor: Flynn, Paul
Sponsors:
Bottomley, Peter
Clark, Katy
Shannon, Jim
Corbyn, Jeremy
Durkan, Mark
That this House is appalled at the evidence of many abuses in the
recent general election in Azerbaijan, including an official
announcement of the result before voting began; applauds the thorough
scrutiny by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
that reported manipulation of voter lists, results and protocols,
including cases of votes being reassigned to a different candidate,
with 58 per cent of observed polling stations assessed as bad or very
bad, with clear indications of ballot box stuffing in 37 polling
stations and every conceivable violation of voter identification;
notes that the US State Department found that the election fell short
of international standards.