Morningstar: The suppression of civil society in danger of repeating the Maidan in Azerbaijan

Violation of human rights, suppression of democratic freedoms, harassment of civil society in Azerbaijan and collaborating Western NGOs only bring damage to US-Azerbaijani relations, and contradict the interests of the official Baku. This was the leitmotif of the interview of U.S. Ambassador Richard Morningstar in Baku with the Azerbaijani Service of Radio Liberty.

"The U.S. is closely monitoring the human rights situation in Azerbaijan. This is an issue we always raise to the highest level. Hillary Clinton during her visit to Azerbaijan several years ago said that the United States established the deepest relationships with only the most democratic countries. But now the situation is such that we cannot hear each other on the question of democracy. It is clear that we have different attitudes to this issue. We know who we are and what our position is. We believe that human rights are violated and we talk about it. Often the government does not do quite the right thing and we do not understand why this happens," said in particular Morningstar.

According to him, the government argues its actions (human rights violations) with the need to maintain stability and indicates the presence of Azerbaijan in a very dangerous region.

Morningstar agrees that Azerbaijan is in a difficult region - between Russia and Iran. "But our position is different. We believe that if the civil society has more opportunities, the stability will be stronger. And we should frankly say that it corresponds to the interests of the government of Azerbaijan.

Once again I want to emphasize that on the issue of democracy and human rights we talk seriously and we will always raise our voice as we did before," said the Ambassador.

He expressed hope that Azerbaijan using the chairmanship of the Council of Europe will achieve some progress.

What can be considered an indicator of success for the 6 -month presidency of Azerbaijan?

On this question the ambassador replied: "The current trials, appellate proceedings, and decisions have caused us to concern. Therefore, the adoption of new, equitable solution could be an indicator of success. Success could be also considered the reduction of attacks on journalists, the resumption of dialogue with civil society.

Several years ago, after the visit of Hillary Clinton the government agreed to such a dialogue and one such meeting took place. But after that the process stopped.

Now there is a lot of pressure on the international NGOs working with civil society in Azerbaijan and the Ministries of Taxes and Justice carry out inspections. We do not understand the reasons for these audits and harassment of working people in these organizations. Relief in this area would also contribute to development.

We know that freedom of assembly is also part of the obligations. During the election period freedom of assembly was provided a little hope that in the future these problems will decrease."

Asked to comment on the perception that there is targeted repression of the authorities on the "pro-Western group," the Ambassador responded this way:

"I hate the phrase "pro-Western group." But I believe that the government is not monolithic. There are those who want to harm the US-Azerbaijani relations, hamper the activities of Western organizations, or accuse the U.S. and Europe of something. But the government has a lot of people who hold a different point of view. I would not want to condemn the government as a whole."

Do you discuss the behavior of these forces (anti-Western) with Aliyev and do you indicate that there are such people?

"I do not intend to disclose details of my meetings with President Aliyev. I have known him for 19 years. Despite the issues we discussed, we have very good personal relationship and he can tell me his thoughts,” said Morningstar.

And is he not among these people (anti-Westerners)?

"Of course, he is not among those people. Firstly I do not know specifically who these people are, but I do not believe that President Ilham Aliyev is personally among them," he said.

At the same Morningstar noted that if the human rights situation gets complicated and the relations with the West deteriorated, it would not benefit anyone.

"Who then will raise voices in support of the independence and sovereignty of Azerbaijan against Russia? And who will do that especially now, after Ukraine? Who will play a buffer role in the issue of a fair settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh and not allow transition of the situation in a negative direction? Who will Azerbaijan cooperate with in anti-terrorist activities? I know that we are accused of giving priority to energy interests. Yes, we have energy interests. But you know that we will not buy oil or gas from Azerbaijan. Simply, we believe it is important to resist Russian gas monopoly... I know many people expect more from the U.S., but in the present situation, we are doing our best," said Morningstar.

Referring to the Karabakh conflict, Morningstar noted that after the things Russia did in the Crimea, the need to resolve the conflict became more urgent.

Morningstar said that the release of the 7 regions around Karabakh is a compelling condition and a part of the Karabakh settlement and the final status of the region must be defined in subsequent negotiations.

"After the things Russia did ​​in the Crimea, who knows how Russia or a third party may use the situation? In connection with the situation in Ukraine I want to stress again that Azerbaijan and the United States should try to save the relationship. For, as I said before, who will stand on the independence of Azerbaijan? Who could do that besides the U.S. and Europe?" said Morningstar.

"It seems to me that many people in the government of Azerbaijan, including the President, understand that the relationship with the U.S. is very important. But perhaps in the government they do not want a repeat of Maidan events in Azerbaijan. According to these people, to prevent this they should increase the pressure on human rights and democracy. But this is a bad lesson learned from the Ukrainian events.

On the one hand, it is believed that after the events in Ukraine the relations with the U.S. are important. On the other hand, it is believed that it is necessary to complicate the work of civil society so that it (Maidan of Independence) was not repeated in Azerbaijan," he said.

This position is wrong and "overlapping oxygen" to civil society increases the likelihood of recurrence of Maidan - if not now, then in 5 years or 10. The more closed opportunities for civil society, the greater the risks are increasing, said the Ambassador.

Morningstar agrees that the Ukrainian events were an indication of how corruption led to the defeat of the state system. According to him, Azerbaijan has made some progress in the fight against corruption and noted the positive experience of ASAN Khidmet.

But challenges still remain. The fight against corruption is not only the elimination of petty bribery, but also the need to create equal opportunities for all.

Monopolies and oligarchic economy are a major challenge to the development of the Azerbaijani economy, and especially in the non-energy sector.

Morningstar noted the importance of the WTO accession, the enactment of the Competition Code, etc. -06D-