Azerbaijan's lavish spending on lobbying in the U.S.

On October 26, Elin Suleymanov, one of Azerbaijan's longest tenured ambassadors abroad, will celebrate the eights anniversary of his tenure in the country's ambassadorship in Washington D.C., a city that is famous for not necessarily getting things done.

Suleymanov, 49, though, has made a reputation with lavish spending on buying influence in the U.S, capital through expensive lobbying contracts with a remote hope, albeit a far-fetched one, to arrange a White House trip for his masters in Baku.

According to the U.S. Justice Department records, since 2017, the Azerbaijan Embassy stepped up its lobbying in the U.S., spending at least $1,360,000 for BGR Group during the past three years, to promote the country"s rich oil opportunities and strong relationship with Israel and U.S., among other things.

This comes after Suleymanov signed several contracts with once-powerful Podesta Group spending $926,587 in 2016-07 only.

Early this summer, BGR has hired former Congressman Bill Delahunt (Democrat from Mass.), who used to be a special counsel at Eckert Seamans, as a subcontractor to lobby for Azerbaijani government.

Others at BGR currently representing Azerbaijan include former U.S, Congressional staffers Walker Roberts, Mark Tavlarides, lobbyist Maya Seiden, veteran of the Clinton and Obama administration, as well as Ed Rogers, Pete Landrum and Lester Munson, according to a Justice Department filing.

BGR declined to comment for this report.

Speaking to TURAN's U.S. correspondent, one Washington.-based Azerbaijan watcher described Azeri Embassy's increasing lobbying spendings as "just money wasting at its best."

Just before the former Trump-branded hotel tower burned in Baku in April 2018, Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington hired Ballard Partners, run by former Trump fundraiser Brian Ballard.

There is, no doubt, a myriad of good, bad and downright ugly arguments for Washington's lobbying groups to work on behalf of the countries with poor human rights records like Azerbaijan, according to local analysts. "The very worst revolve around corruption and corrosive money-laundering," one analyst told TURAN's correspondent.

"For many in Washington, Azerbaijan is still considered a hotbed for money laundering, with members of the government"s ruling class engaging in a multibillion dollar kleptocracy scheme. Some of that money went to shell companies, then found its way to U.S. lobbying firms" the source added.

One of the more convincing step for the Azeri government to gain influence in Washington, on the other hand, could be that it would provide a tantalizing opportunity to build a new kind of relations with the West from scratch - by becoming more open, transparent, democratic and run truly for the people it serves.

Alex Raufoglu
Washington D.C.