Jamil Hasanli: Azerbaijan Not Ready to Sign Strategic Partnership Agreement

Baku / 14.05.19 / Turan: The Government of Azerbaijan not only refused to conclude an agreement on associative relations with the European Union, but as recent events have shown, it was not even ready to sign a strategic partnership agreement.

This opinion was expressed by Jamil Hasanli, head of the National Council of Democratic Forces of Azerbaijan (NCDF), in an interview with the Chetin Sual (Difficult Question) program of the Turan news agency.

"Today the situation in the world is already such that most of the obstacles to the signing of an agreement on strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and the EU have been eliminated. However, the Azerbaijani authorities cannot find the strength to do this," Hasanli said.

He does not hope much that the visit of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Brussels on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership will promote the Azerbaijan-EU relations.

"To be honest, we didn"t have any serious expectations, and we knew that the agreement would not be signed. Therefore, this visit should be considered an ordinary event. Once again, we have witnessed a declaration from the rostrum of the EU, and untrue information about Azerbaijan, and promises," Hasanli continued.

In his opinion, for the EU, fundamental rights and freedoms occupy a dominant position in relations with Azerbaijan, despite the fact that the subject of negotiations are also issues of free trade, the country's accession to the WTO, etc.

He recalled that the European Parliament, in a resolution of July 4, 2018, pointed to the priority place for human rights issues in a future agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan.

It reflected the issues of the release of political prisoners, respect for human rights, ensuring the independence of the court, ending the practice of torture and even fighting corruption.

According to Hasanli, the reforms declared by the authorities, including those in the judicial and legal sphere, are imitative in nature.

"How much can justice reform be carried out?" As a result of these "reforms", Azerbaijan has moved from the category of partially free countries to the group of non-free ones. Where are pompously advertised "road maps" of economic reforms? Probably, they have become dusty in the bookshelves ... In a country where judicial reforms are allegedly being carried out, over the past 2-3 years, about 30 people have been killed without trial or investigation as "terrorists," Hasanli said.

According to him, the NCDF believes that in terms of human rights, an agreement on strategic partnership should comply with the parameters of an associative agreement.

"For the situation with human rights in Azerbaijan is catastrophic. Despite the last order to pardon and release many activists, journalists and believers, the number of political prisoners is still about 100. The courts continue to harass people for political reasons. Investigative bodies create laboratories of torture and force out confessions from arrested people for acts they have not committed. Therefore, we want a future partnership agreement with the EU to help bring the country out of this catastrophic human rights situation. We want the citizens of Azerbaijan to enjoy the rights enjoyed by European nations, even at the minimum level," Hasanli concluded.-06D -