The case of M. Huseynov through the prism of �European policy�

Two factors of what happened in the European Parliament on January 17 testify to the deep disagreements of the West with the administration of President Aliyev, which remained hidden due to the EU"s joint work with Azerbaijan on the partnership agreement, which is expected to reach the finish line in the spring months. The first is the number of European deputies who participated in the voting and supported the resolution (533 "for" and 28 "against," there are 751 members in total), and the second is the content of the document, which includes all the problems of the West"s relations with Azerbaijan in the field of human rights, freedoms and democracy.

Official Baku did not comment on this decision of the European Parliament, which can be viewed as an understanding of the seriousness of the situation and taking a time-out to work out the administration"s response steps. However, the first reaction of the pro-government voices, who accused the European elects of nations in the pro-Armenian position, shows that in the corridors of power at the emotional level, this news from Brussels was perceived aggressively.

Perhaps the most important point of the European Parliament resolution is an appeal to the European Union, which calls on the Council of Europe, the European Commission and the vice-president to make the release of Mehman Huseynov and other political prisoners in Azerbaijan a central issue in the EU-Azerbaijan human rights dialogue during the negotiations on a new agreement, urges EU officials to publicly express their concern about the human rights situation in Azerbaijan.

After this decision, the European Union will be forced to respond to the situation around a popular blogger, who is deprived of liberty for a term of two years for exposing corrupt officials and the period is coming to an end if the new criminal case is not brought to a logical conclusion. Since December 26 of last year, that is, since the moment of his imprisonment in the punishment cell Mehman Huseynov, for allegedly insulting a prison officer, the European Union has not taken public denunciations, unlike international institutions such as the OSCE, the Council of Europe, and non-governmental human rights organizations. The EU is seeking to reach a comprehensive partnership agreement with the Azerbaijani government this spring and avoid confrontation with official Baku.

However, can we talk about the same policy of the European partner in the face of Azerbaijan? The decision to bring another criminal charge against Mehman Huseynov is political in nature, and few people doubt it. As a result, this policy led to confrontation, and it is unlikely that the EU and Azerbaijan will be able to avoid an open clash without releasing Huseynov and without restructuring the framework of the authoritarian political system of the state.

The recent steps taken by Ilham Aliyev in the field of structural and personnel changes, easing the tax and corruption burden for business circles, including such an important component as small and medium-sized businesses, create a certain gap for taking similar steps in the field of democracy in a broad sense. The position of the EU, which is in close cooperation with Azerbaijan in the work on a new roadmap of bilateral relations should be taken into account. As expected on both sides of the negotiating table, it will be designed to raise EU-Azerbaijan cooperation to a higher level than was previously done in the framework of the post-Soviet 1996 partnership agreement.

One should not guess by what mutually acceptable steps the issue of Huseynov will be settled and barriers to signing an agreement on strategic partnership bypassed, but the strategy of the development of the South Caucasus region and Azerbaijan itself, in particular, give grounds for optimism. It is noteworthy that the main partner of the EU - the United States also in a dotted form fixes their negative attitude towards the Huseynov case, while leaving a corridor for the parties to deviate from their original pre-Christmas positions.