Addressing the OSCE Permanent Council on the lowering of the status of the office of the organization in Azerbaijan generates a lot of questions to which there are no answers.
First of all, the OSCE countries, and more specifically the West and the United States opposed the idea of Baku, which made no secret that it wants to minimize the interference in its internal affairs. Official Baku feared of the presence of the OSCE mission, which monitored the situation, organized roundtables, and funded various projects for government agencies, civil society, and media.
All this intensified during the election period and turned into a headache for the authorities, who have been forced to respond to criticism of violations of democracy.
From now on, all of this will be less. In any case, Baku expects that restricting the powers of the office will lead down to this.
So far no comments for this have been made, but it is clear that Washington has agreed to this in exchange for something. The question is, what is it?
Although the decision will come into effect on January 1, it is quite symptomatic and talks about the continuation of the trend of the tightening of foreign presence in the country. Restrictions for broadcasting Radio Liberty and The Voice of America, the ban on the U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI) and other steps are the links of one chain.
Successive steps of the authorities are to apply the experience of Russia to declare foreign agents all those who receive support from foreign donors, further tightening the legislation on NGOs.
All this does not bode well for civil society in Azerbaijan. Here the most important thing is not the policy of the authorities, which has not changed for 18 years. The saddest thing is the position of the West, which continues to retreat from democratic values under the pressure of the oil and pipeline interests.
Similarly, the United States acted in Iran before the Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s of the last century. -02B-
Politics
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A gas tanker exploded at a petrol station in the centre of Grozny on Saturday evening. According to preliminary data, four people were killed.
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On 10 and 11 October, Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra attended the last ministerial meeting before COP29. With just a month to go until the COP29 in Baku, it was an important occasion to address topics like climate finance, international carbon markets and Article 6, adaptation, mitigation, transparent reporting and the follow-up of the COP28 commitment to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.
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In a case that is disappointing but not surprising, the agreement between the government of Azerbaijan and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for hosting the climate conference COP29, is replete with significant shortcomings and ambiguities on the protections for participants’ rights. Human Rights Watch has obtained a copy of this host country agreement, signed in August 2024, which has yet to be made public.
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On October 12, a video conference meeting was held at the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense with the participation of military leadership, commanders of the branches of the armed forces, and leaders of major military units. Minister of Defense Zakir Hasanov, recalling statements by President Ilham Aliyev, emphasized that the main goal of the army is to enhance military power and combat capabilities, as well as to prepare professional personnel.
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