What the Ambassador Said — and Did Not Say

When Ralf Horlemann summed up his four-year mission in Azerbaijan this week, his farewell press conference appeared to be a carefully calibrated exercise in diplomatic balance: economics, energy, Europe, security. But there was almost nothing about the issues that until recently had been an inseparable part of the Western political vocabulary in the region — democracy, human rights and freedom of speech. That silence have been revealing.

During his four years in Baku, Horlemann witnessed Azerbaijan’s transformation from an important energy partner for Europe into a strategic pillar of the continent’s emerging geopolitical architecture. At his final meeting with journalists, this was precisely where he placed his emphasis.

Trade turnover between Germany and Azerbaijan reached 1.7 billion euros in 2025, a figure reflecting the growing interdependence of the two economies. Azerbaijan exports mainly oil and gas, while Germany supplies machinery, industrial equipment and automobiles. Yet behind these dry figures lies a far more complex reality.

According to the ambassador, three German companies have signed ten-year contracts with SOCAR to purchase two billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas annually. The gas does not flow directly into Germany. Instead, it enters the European energy market through swap arrangements — a complex network of exchange mechanisms allowing resources to be redistributed across the continent. For Berlin, this is not simply business.

After Europe’s abrupt strategic break from Russian energy supplies, the search for stable alternatives remains urgent. Against the backdrop of renewed instability in the Middle East, including growing risks to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Azerbaijan’s strategic relevance has only deepened. The diplomat made it clear that energy has become the language of diplomacy.

Politically, relations between Berlin and Baku are also on an upward trajectory, he said. The ambassador praised Azerbaijan’s position in supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression and welcomed Baku’s efforts toward achieving peace with Armenia.

He also emphasized the significance of Azerbaijan’s relationship with the European Union, which remains the largest consumer of Azerbaijani oil and gas. Brussels, he noted, increasingly views Azerbaijan as a bridge between Europe and Central Asia, particularly through the development of the Middle Corridor — a transport route gaining strategic importance amid the global reconfiguration of trade. But it was in what remained unsaid that the deeper significance of the press conference emerged.

Asked by Turan about complaints from foreign companies regarding insufficient legal guarantees for investment and the lack of an independent judiciary, Horlemann responded as diplomat, saying he had not encountered such complaints from German investors. The answer left room for interpretation.

More striking, however, was his silence on Azerbaijan’s domestic political climate — an issue that only a few years ago would almost certainly have featured prominently in public remarks by Western diplomats. There was no mention of press freedom. No reference to political prisoners. No assessment of the condition of civil society.

The last time these issues were publicly raised in such direct terms was in 2024, when the ambassadors of the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the European Union spoke at an event marking Human Rights Day. Since then, the diplomatic tone has shifted noticeably. That shift is difficult to see as accidental.

As the war in Ukraine continues, energy insecurity grows, tensions around Iran escalate, and competition intensifies over transport corridors in the South Caucasus, Western policy toward Azerbaijan is becoming increasingly pragmatic. Security — energy, military and logistical — is overtaking the normative agenda. For Western capitals, Baku today is less an object of reform than a component of strategic stability. And the German ambassador’s farewell remarks may have offered the clearest reflection yet of this new reality: an era in which values still matter, but interests come first.