Rauf Mirkadyrov intends to punish Turkey and Azerbaijan

Rauf Mirkadyrov (born 1961 in Baku), analyst of the newspaper Zerkalo, honored journalist of Azerbaijan and laureate of the international award G. Burtselius was detained in Turkey, from there he was brought to Baku and imprisoned in April 2014 in the remand center of the former Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan on charges of espionage. With the arrest of Mirkadyrov, persecutions began against the free press and civil society in Azerbaijan, which continues to this day. Sentenced on December 28, 2015 to six years in prison for "espionage," he was released in March 2016, and the real sentence was replaced by a suspended sentence with a trial period of five years. In October 2016, Rauf Mirkadyrov asked for political asylum in Switzerland, and was reunited with his family who moved there from Turkey.

Rauf Mirkadyrov answered questions Turan from Switzerland.

- Tell us about your status - are you a Swiss citizen or have you obtained a residence permit? Do you receive benefits? Learn the language, a new profession?

"I'm not a Swiss citizen." It is not so easy to obtain citizenship here. Only after ten years the emigrant gets the right to apply for citizenship, if fully integrated into society, knows the language well, works and so on.

I was given political asylum, and as a consequence, a residence permit. I receive the allowance. I'm learning German. It's difficult, because I'm not young.

- Do you participate in the public life of Swiss Azerbaijanis? Are there many Azerbaijanis in Switzerland? Are they organized, helping each other? Are you interested in the embassy of our country or did you contact them?

- I've always been a journalist with an active civic position, but I never took a great interest in public work. Perhaps, I am mistaken, but I do not notice any special social activity among the Azerbaijanis. No more than 30-40 people gather for the celebration of Novruz, the Day of State Independence. However, it is necessary to take into account the small number of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Switzerland.

There are individual activists. They helped both my family and me. I would especially like to mention Haji Hajiyev, who lives in Switzerland. Thank you so much.

- What is the significance of Azerbaijan for Switzerland and Western Europe, in addition to gas supplies? The question is that in the Azerbaijani propaganda they write that Azerbaijan is a valuable partner of the Western world.

- If we consider the geopolitical and economic interests of the world's leading centers of power, Azerbaijan is potentially a valuable partner for the West. Firstly, in the short and medium term, we are talking, first of all, about energy resources. At the same time, Azerbaijan is viewed not only and not as much as a supplier of energy resources, but primarily as a transit corridor for supplies from Central Asia to the European Union countries. In the West, they very much like to bypass both Russia and Iran, which have and will have their own geopolitical and economic interests in our region, moreover, under any authority.

Secondly, these are the transport corridors East-West, North-South. These projects in the long term are of far greater strategic importance than pipelines. Especially if Azerbaijan finds itself at the intersection of these two transport corridors. But all this in the future ...

Thirdly, we can not ignore geopolitical components. Azerbaijan borders on Russia in the North, and in the South with Iran, that is, with two regional powers. And Russia also claims to be a world leader. Tries to make the world reckon with her.

Thus, the South Caucasus is an important geopolitical springboard for the West.

But today the West is not up to Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus. The West can in no way build a predictable relationship with Russia, achieve a settlement of the Ukrainian, Syrian conflicts. It should also be taken into account that the Ukrainian conflict directly affects the interests of Europe. The problem is not only that we are talking about the conflict can be said in the heart of Europe. In the West they realize that without the settlement of this conflict, it will not be possible to build stable and predictable relations with Russia. And there is no recipe for a settlement of the conflict.

- European institutions sharply negatively assessed the presidential elections in Azerbaijan. But at the same time these same institutions congratulated I.Aliyev on re-election. What does this mean?

- It seems to me that everyone, including our foreign partners and our opposition were pleased with the early presidential elections. I'll start with the opposition. She received a reinforced concrete motive for boycotting elections. It would be a sin not to take this opportunity. Several meetings were held to indicate their own protest position. No more.

And if the elections were held in the regular mode, they would have to imitate training and struggle in the fall. In a word, there would be a lot more headaches, and arrested activists too.

Similarly, European institutions. They indicated some clear position, which in general was reduced to the lack of a competitive environment, to ensure equal opportunities in elections. No more. Nobody was going to change anything. Moreover, it was impossible to change something. Therefore, they designated a certain clear position for history, and then congratulated. All the same they will have to deal with Ilham Aliyev.

- In Azerbaijan, official propaganda often accuses Europe of double standards. They explain: Europe criticizes Azerbaijan for its undemocratic nature, but it is silent about the situation of Azerbaijani refugees and occupation of Karabakh. Is it right for Baku?

- Firstly, these are different things. You can not confuse the problems created by external factors and us. Refugees, the occupied territories are a consequence of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. And in the absence of democracy in Azerbaijan, it is impossible to blame the Armenians. The reason is in ourselves.

Do not make people laugh. It turns out that democracy, observance of the rights of our own citizens can become a concession from Azerbaijan, if international structures refuse from "double standards" in the issue of the Karabakh conflict settlement. Absolutely absurd. As if democracy in Azerbaijan is necessary for them, not for us ...

Secondly, this is not true. I want to remind the Swiss Gross, who was the PACE co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan. Gross was one of the consistent critics of the human rights situation in Azerbaijan. At the same time, he was the first to achieve the inclusion of the inadmissibility of occupation by Armenia, that is, the member of the Council of Europe of the territory of Azerbaijan, also a member of the Council of Europe. Moreover, it was not just about lowland areas, but also about Nagorno-Karabakh itself. And Gross was declared the enemy of Azerbaijan only because he did everything possible to establish democracy in our country.

- What does Azerbaijan look like from Europe, and what does the Karabakh problem look like from Europe? Maybe they really believe that Azerbaijan should give all Armenians in exchange for the return of several flat areas?

- Europe does not discuss this. Not before us, at least now, of course, if it is a question of Azerbaijan as a whole.

As for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, the West has an official, that is, publicly voiced and realistic position, as in any such conflict. The official position is that the West recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, does not see the so-called "Nagorno Karabakh Republic" at all, and calls on the opposing sides to settle the conflict peacefully. Thus, the public position of the West as a whole is consistent with the norms of international law.

But in fact, the West as a whole does not care what variant the conflict will be resolved, in other words, what state, in the final analysis, will be Nagorno-Karabakh. The West worries, and, very seriously, the possible geopolitical consequences of this or that variant of the Karabakh conflict settlement. To be precise, the West is interested in such an option for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, in which the South Caucasus would get rid of the "guardianship" of Russia.

Yes, there are separate groups lobbying the interests of Azerbaijan and Armenia. But they do not determine the political weather.

- Azerbaijan is preparing to sign an agreement with the EU within the framework of the Eastern Partnership. What will this document give the people? Why does Baku sign an agreement with Europe, which is with "double standards"? Let me remind you that Georgians are disappointed in this partnership, and Armenians did not feel anything at all from signing an agreement with the EU.

- First, I can not say anything specifically, until I get acquainted with the text of the agreement. But I can say for sure that this will not be an agreement on "strategic partnership", as official Baku demands. The EU has agreements on strategic partnership, but with such states as Canada, Japan. In a word, in our case the scale is not the same.

Secondly, such agreements, as a rule, have a framework character. The pace and quality of the movement along the path outlined in these framework agreements, first of all, depends on the states themselves involved in the process. And to be precise, from their desire and ability to perform, say, "homework". In a word, everyone gets what they deserve. And we deserve not so much, and Georgians, Ukrainians as well.

- Turkish President R.T. Erdogan announced early elections after the extraordinary elections were held by I.Aliyev. Is there any connection in this? Why did you go to the extraordinary Aliyev and why does Erdogan go to them?

- I do not think that there is any kind of relationship. Early elections in Azerbaijan were not connected with internal political problems. And no one predicted a major change in the internal political situation in Azerbaijan until the fall. The authorities felt comfortable enough.

Erdogan was in a difficult internal political situation. At one time, all who opposed the Kemalists and the army - liberals, almost all Islamists, Kurds, big business and the West - all united against him. Today there is a diametrically opposite situation. Today, except for a significant part of Islamists and an extremely small part of the nationalists, led by Bakhchali Erdogan no one supports. He loses in the ranking. The further, the more. Therefore, he needs such early elections.

"Let's come back to you." Do you intend to punish the leadership of Azerbaijan for convicting you, and almost two-year imprisonment? When will you return to Azerbaijan, under what conditions?

"I intend to punish not only Azerbaijan, but also Turkey." My complaints against Azerbaijan and Turkey are pending before the European Court of Human Rights. As for the return, I did not even think about it ... The point is that even the cancellation of the verdict is not enough for my return.