Council Of Europe Delegation Prepares For Azerbaijan Mission Amidst Dissatisfaction Over Domestic Rights Climate
Kenan Aliyev: 5/24/01

As a Council of Europe delegation prepares for a monitoring mission to Azerbaijan, leaders of the political opposition in Baku are expressing frustration that membership in the organization has not prompted domestic liberalization.

Opposition leaders, including Azerbaijani National Independence Party leader Etibar Mamedov, complain that government actions that violate fundamental human rights have been largely unaffected by Council of Europe membership. [For background information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Opposition leaders worry that instead of democratizing Azerbaijan, CoE membership is helping to legitimize the autocratic regime of President Heidar Aliyev, increasing the chances that the aging Azerbaijani leader will eventually transfer power to his son, Ilham.

During a May 16 presentation at the Nixon Center in Washington, DC, Mamedov said his party had been denied representation in the Azerbaijani parliament following November elections "thanks to the ‘very good’ election that President Aliyev conducted … [and] thanks to the Council of Europe and the United States which very successfully closed their eyes to total election fraud."

Meanwhile, CoE officials defend the decision to grant full membership to Azerbaijan, which was admitted to the organization along with Armenia. Change cannot happen overnight, council officials say. "We don't have to wait until the country is perfect [before granting membership]," Andreas Gross, a Swiss member of the Council’s parliamentary Assembly, said in a recent telephone interview. "We have to support those who have good will, and all Azerbaijani opposition parties, human rights groups and NGOs are happy [that Azerbaijan is a] member of the COE because now their rights are much better protected and they are under the attention of the international community."

Gross, a member of the Council's powerful Monitoring Committee, has been appointed as special rapporteur to Azerbaijan. He will be part of a CoE mission, scheduled for June, that will assess the Azerbaijani government's progress in fulfilling its Council membership obligations.

In comments about the upcoming CoE mission, Gross expressed displeasure with the existing human rights climate, but offered hope for future improvement. "The situation in Azerbaijan is very difficult and absolutely not satisfying, particularly when it comes to human rights, freedom of the press and political prisoners," he said. "I had the impression that the President of Azerbaijan is willing to fulfill the challenge that Azerbaijan becomes a country with respect for human rights. But Azerbaijan has a lot to do."

Among the primary areas of investigation for Gross will be the issue of press freedom. Aflatun Amashov, Head of Ruh, the Azerbaijani committee to protect journalists, reports that membership in the Council has brought no changes in the government's harsh treatment of independent media. Defamation cases are still used to harass and stifle the press; journalists are still beaten by police; and regional television stations are still denied broadcast licenses.

The issue of political prisoners will be another subject of Gross's assessment. "I have a list of 250 so-called political prisoners, and will challenge the President and the Government and the Parliament to think about an amnesty," Gross said. "An amnesty will help to achieve peace and stability in Azerbaijan. … I will fight for the release of a lot of people, although it is difficult. I will do my best."

Gross conceded that President Aliyev does not admit that Azerbaijan holds political prisoners. And in a recent discussion with the press, Ilham Aliyev, the President's son and currently the head of Azerbaijan's delegation to the Council's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), also denied the existence of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

Ilham Aliyev's appointment to head Azerbaijan's PACE delegation is viewed by the country's political opposition and independent press as the latest step in a campaign by the President to promote his son in the West. Ilham's speech to PACE in April was broadcast live and repeatedly by Azerbaijani state television. Pro-government newspapers proclaimed the address "a diplomatic success."

The admission of Azerbaijan and Armenia to the CoE was also motivated by the belief that membership would promote a settlement between these two countries on Nagorno-Karabakh. Such hopes were quickly dispelled during the PACE's spring session this April, when members of each delegation took the opportunity of the gathering to petition participants to endorse claims against the other. Each sought to pass a resolution -- the Armenians on the Turkish "genocide" and Azerbaijan on Armenian aggression - and pledged to continue its efforts at the next session.

Editor’s Note: Kenan Aliev is a journalist, based in Washington, DC.

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Posted May 24, 2001 © Eurasianet
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