The European Games and its implicit race between hydrocarbon dollars and human rights have come to an end after a grandiose closing show on June 28 in Baku and divergent opinions about what the Olympics-style event has done for Azerbaijan.
Officials in the oil capital of the Caucasus say, all puns aside, that the event has been a gas. Government-influenced media (in other words, mainstream Azerbaijani media) is busy cultivating a sense of achievement and President Ilham Aliyev’s government is promising to host more sporting events that raise Azerbaijan’s international profile.
But some critics question the need for the Games. The Guardian wrote that Baku 2015 left the impression of “ghost games;” that “there is no real need for in a crowded calendar and willed into existence by the endless expansionism of the Olympics movement and an authoritarian state.”
Within Azerbaijan, opinions range from pride that Baku could pull off a mini-Olympics to anger over perceived runaway spending of taxpayer money on a presidential pet project.
Sports Minister Azad Rahimov was a bit on the defensive amid reports of excessive spending. He claimed that the alleged 960 million manats ($914.55 million) price-tag for the Games was within range of initial estimates, but there are reports of much higher spending.
With almost no independent, critical media left inside the country, the real price tag is likely to remain obscured for the immediate future.
As the government sees it, though, the lavish pageantry, hosting of thousands of athletes and sports officials, and also the country’s impressive medal ranking (third after Russia and Germany, with 56 medals) outweigh what it regards as catcalls from Western “conspirators.”
Granted, its PR-promoters couldn’t plan for everything. The June 13-14 flood and subsequent escape of zoo animals in neighboring Georgia stole a fair share of international media attention just as the Games were getting started. Then, by the end, Armenia’s ElectricYerevan protests, watched by some outsiders for signs of Maidan-ability, distracted regional watchers again.
But the European Games also helped spread the word about the plight of the tens of imprisoned critics in one of the most repressive civil societies in the post-Soviet world. Reams of news stories and human rights groups’ reports highlighted the number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan – estimated at "at least 35," according to Human Rights Watch – for the length of the Games’ 16-day run in Baku.
“International media coverage of the crackdown has held a mirror up to Azerbaijan and showed the world that the country has something very shameful it wants to hide,” said Denis Krivosheev, deputy program director at Amnesty International.
International sports officials had to field a number of uncomfortable questions from journalists, but Azerbaijan is used to not letting that get to them.
Azerbaijani journalists and rights defenders still remain in prison. And Azerbaijani officials are now instructing domestic media to balance out the negative international coverage by dwelling on the positive.
Looks like not much has changed.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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