"Escape" from Europe

The PACE resolution on Azerbaijan became the main event of last week and will be in the spotlight for a long time. However, this unprecedented event has once again become the cause of political clowning, and not the subject of serious analysis. The society has not received clear answers to the question: what is the cause of the crisis around the Council of Europe?

Let us figure this out. So, Baku's official position is that the Council of Europe is a worthless organization, where unbearable racism, Azerbaijanophobia and Islamophobia reign, as Samad Seyidov put it. He also believes that "Political corruption, discrimination, ethnic and religious hatred, double standards, arrogance, chauvinism have become the prevailing practice in PACE."

Well, one can only wonder at the courage of Samad Seyidov and his team members, who have suffered in such unbearable conditions in Strasbourg for almost 20 years.

So, Thesis number 1): Political corruption

We all remember well the scandals about political corruption that rocked the Council of Europe after the publication of the 2012 European Stability Initiative report, better known as Caviar Diplomacy. "According to sources of the European Stability Initiative, Azerbaijan has a group of 10-12 friends in PACE and 3-4 people in the secretariat who regularly receive expensive gifts from Azerbaijan, including caviar, gold, carpets, etc. In response, these deputies sabotage the adoption of critical reports against the Azerbaijani authorities. In particular, the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan were held with gross violations and not a single opposition party entered parliament. However, the head of the PACE mission stated that the elections met international standards," the report said.

During the 2008 presidential elections, the head of the PACE observer group, Andreas Herkel, prepared a critical report, but it was blocked by "friends" of Baku in the person of Michael Hancock, Eduard Lintner, and Paul Villa. Herkel was forced to resign if the criticism was not included in the statement.

During the referendum, which lifted restrictions on the number of terms for Ilham Aliyev, four PACE deputies, Eduard Litner, Paul Ville, Haki Keskin, and Pedro Agramunt, assessed the referendum as the progress of democracy.

 On October 9, 2013, Ilham Aliyev was elected president of Azerbaijan for the third time. The  observers of ODIHE/OSCEOSCE, led by Tana de Zulueta, announced restrictions on freedom of speech in the elections, while representatives of the European Parliament, led by Pino Arlacchi, announced free and fair elections.

In January 2013, at PACE, Baku's friends were able to fail a report by German MP Christoph Strasser on political prisoners in Azerbaijan. In 2015, when discussing the resolution on political prisoners in the European Parliament, the text written by pro-Azerbaijani speakers initially contained almost no criticism, but eventually a resolution was adopted demanding that Azerbaijan stop repressions against human rights defenders, review the law on NGOs, not put pressure on journalists and the threat of sanctions was sounded. According to German MP Frank Schwab, this was a turning point for Azerbaijan's "caviar diplomacy".

On September 10, 2015, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning Azerbaijan for "unprecedented repression." The resolution also called on the European authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into corruption allegations.

In June 2016, Luca Volontè, the former head of the European People's Party faction  in PACE, was charged by the Milan Prosecutor's Office with corruption and money laundering. According to the prosecutor's office, Volontè received 2.39 million euros for the support of Azerbaijani officials.

According to the second ESI report "Caviar Diplomacy Part 2", published in December 2016, Volontè agreed to cooperate with the investigation and named many European politicians who selflessly lobbied for the interests of the Azerbaijani authorities. During interrogations, Volontè confirmed receiving 2.39 million euros for lobbying activities in favor of Azerbaijan. According to ESI, the money was used to bribe Italian and other parliamentarians who voted against PACE resolutions and reports condemning human rights violations in Azerbaijan. In a documentary shown on Italian television, Volontè also confirmed the receipt of 2.39 million euros, claiming that this money was received from members of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE.

Later, PACE deprived members of the Azerbaijani delegation Elkhan Suleymanov and Muslim Mammadov of the right to visit the Council of Europe and its structures for life.

In April 2017, the European Parliament formed a commission to investigate alleged corruption. During several subsequent hearings on the report (April 25, 2018, May 15, 2018 and June 27, 2018), 4 PACE members were deprived of certain rights, and 14 members accused of accepting bribes from the Azerbaijani government in 2013 were banned for life from the Assembly and the right to visit the Council of Europe.

On January 11, 2021, a Milan court sentenced Volontè  to 4 years in prison for bribing Azerbaijani representatives, for which he pledged to reject the PACE report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

In 2019-2021, the German Bundestag stripped the immunity of deputies Karin Strenz, Eduard Lintner and Axel Fischer for accepting bribes from Azerbaijan. According to the prosecutor's office, Lintner received about 4 million euros from Azerbaijan through fake British companies from 2008 to 2016. He gave some of this money to other PACE members to praise the elections in Azerbaijan.

 As we can see, Seyidov's allegations of political corruption within the walls of PACE are founded.

Thesis number 2): PACE has done nothing to support Azerbaijan's just struggle for Karabakh.

 On January 25, 2005, PACE adopted the resolution "The conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is being addressed by the OSCE Minsk Group" (N1416). This document, also named after its author, British MP Atkinson, confirmed the occupation of Azerbaijani territories.

Azerbaijan was recognized by the international community in 1991 within its borders with Nagorno-Karabakh, the resolution says. The document expresses concern about ethnic cleansing in Karabakh and the surrounding regions, calls for the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions NN 822, 853, 874 and 884 and the withdrawal of troops from the occupied territories.

The resolution confirms the right of internally displaced persons to return to their lands, and emphasizes the inadmissibility of occupation by one member of the Council of Europe of the territory of another member State.

On January 26, 2016, PACE adopted a resolution "Residents of the border regions of Azerbaijan are intentionally deprived of water" on the Sarsang reservoir in Karabakh.    It contains a demand for the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the specified region. The resolution calls the artificial water crisis an "environmental aggression" and at the same time confirms the occupation of part of the territories of Azerbaijan by Armenia.

The other day, a former oppositionist, the editor of a former opposition newspaper, ranted on this topic on AZTV. Foaming at the mouth, he argued about the worthlessness of Atkinson and his resolution, which gave nothing to Azerbaijan.  The same was said about the Council of Europe, which raised the issue of the illegal arrest of this very editor when he was in a Baku prison.

One can only guess what makes people change their position by 180 degrees, do not hesitate to call black and white and openly lie?

Thesis number 3): The Council of Europe has not justified Azerbaijan's hopes and is a worthless organization

Here we must return to the moment of Azerbaijan's accession to the Council of Europe in 2001. It is enough to quote the speech of the then President of the country, Heydar Aliyev, at the Council of Europe and recall what he promised and how he assessed European values and traditions, which are harshly criticized today.

"The Republic of Azerbaijan, which is an integral part of a united and indivisible Europe, has joined a reliable and authoritative European organization - the Council of Europe. On behalf of the entire Azerbaijani people, I express my gratitude to the members of the Parliamentary Assembly and, in general, to the member States of the Council of Europe for supporting the entry of the Republic of Azerbaijan into the organization. I take this opportunity to congratulate President Kocharian on the admission of Armenia to the Council of Europe."

"The Constitution of Azerbaijan guarantees the supremacy of international law. So far, we have joined 15 conventions of the Council of Europe. But even without being members of the organization, we considered the provisions and standards of the main documents of the Council of Europe. This primarily concerns the European Convention on Human Rights and its protocols.

The laws adopted in our country are being developed with the direct participation of experts from the Council of Europe."

"As a result of legal reforms, everyone has gained guarantees of personal freedom and inviolability, fair and public hearing of his case by an independent and impartial court and provision of legal protection. The country has a multiparty system, ensures political pluralism, freedom of speech and religion, minority rights, equality before the law and the presumption of innocence."

"Over the past five years, on my initiative, an amnesty has been declared against 55 thousand people. I also pardoned about 2,500 prisoners, among whom were persons mentioned in the appeals of human rights organizations and PACE deputies.

On January 16 of this year, I sent another amnesty initiative to the Parliament of the Republic for about 9 thousand people. 

We will continue to proceed from the commitment of the Azerbaijani people and the state to the ideals and principles of humanism and humanity, values based on democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

I declare with full responsibility that freedom of the media and unhindered development of NGOs are ensured in Azerbaijan. We intend to further improve legislation in these areas and improve the practice of its application."

"Today, the process of Azerbaijan's democratic development has become irreversible, and unshakable guarantees of freedom and the rule of law have been created. Azerbaijan's admission to the Council of Europe is not only recognition of it as an established independent, sovereign, democratic, secular state, it is the beginning of a new stage in the development of the Azerbaijani state as an equal member of the European family.

I declare that Azerbaijan is committed to its obligations to the Council of Europe." "The accession to the Council of Europe of our country, located at the crossroads of historical paths, is an extremely important event for both Azerbaijan and the organization. We are ready to replenish the pan-European baggage with new values that will contribute to strengthening democratic stability in Europe."

I wonder if Baku remembers this performance today?

Thesis number 4): "We are being expelled from the Council of Europe for liberating Karabakh"

Over 19 years, PACE and the European Parliament have adopted dozens of documents on Azerbaijan: Resolutions, reports and statements that spoke about human rights violations, political prisoners, inconsistency of adopted laws with European standards, corruption, unfair elections, violation of democracy – what the country promised to do when it was admitted to the Council of Europe in 2001 year.

The above-mentioned documents did not just criticize Baku, they stated something more important - Azerbaijan is moving in a different direction. At the same time, it was also a warning.

Today we are told that Azerbaijan has been deprived of its voice because we have cleared Karabakh of Armenians. If this were the case, sanctions would have been imposed last year, when PACE criticized the September operation in Karabakh, and even earlier the installation of a border checkpoint in Lachin. And if we did not agree with these decisions, why did not  we leave PACE then, and not now?

Was it worth reacting so violently?

Did Baku know about the upcoming troubles? If he did not know and did not guess, then those responsible for the country's foreign policy are eating their bread in vain. But most likely, Baku was aware of the mood in Strasbourg, but the slogan worked: "No one can talk to us in the language of threats."

An attempt to dictate conditions and impose their own rules where it is impossible. That is the reason for what happened.

The consequences of this crisis are image losses for the country as a whole. For citizens, this is a weakening of contacts with European structures and, above all, with the European Court of Human Rights, where they could find protection of their rights.

One can only hope that Baku will remember another slogan, said in 2001 by Heydar Aliyev on the day of admission to the Council of Europe:

“Dear deputies! We should all rely on the search for unity in difference, and not turn differences into contradictions. We are all different peoples, but we speak the same language - the language of a united Europe, the language of freedom, democracy and law. This is our strength.”