The EU Should Reconsider Its Policy Towards Azerbaijan

• 07.21.2015, 13:19
• Greta Avetisyan
•  Region,  "Insight" Analytical Center ,  World,  Analytics

There is an economic and spiritual crisis in Europe… A sentence that has become so popular in Azerbaijan recently. But what is the reason for such a tough wording. Is there any ground for this? First of all it should be mentioned that this was declared by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev days after the Riga Summit. There may be multiple reasons for Azerbaijan’s this kind of declaration, but it is enough to mention some of them, to understand the whole logic of the started process.

First of all it should be mentioned that the toughening position of Azerbaijan has deep roots, which has started to be obviously expressed during the recent 2-3 years. Being an oil-rich country with a lot of petrodollars, Azerbaijan has always managed to effectively use its "caviar diplomacy." Interestingly enough this has been perceived by Europe quite normal. The reason is the interests – a lot of money and energy diversification. Though from time to time from different levels and in different documents Europe has criticized Azerbaijan’s internal policy, where it has dozens of problems, the dose of those criticisms were  likely less to make Azerbaijan become sober. Human rights violations, repressions, political prisoners, poor living conditions vs petrodollars, violations of freedom of speech – these are those problems that are seen even from afar, which, however, have not been tackled properly by Europe or at least been referred to as a normal phenomenon. Thus being forgiven for everything, Azerbaijan has gradually started to think that it is privileged and has acted accordingly – like a spoiled child. In the recent two years, as a result of Russia-West tense relations, Azerbaijan started to feel even more privileged. It started to be seen by the West as an alternative energy transit country.

The second reason why Azerbaijan so easily and without fear criticized Europe was what happened in the Riga Summit. Azerbaijan, without having any objective reason, signed the Summit final document with reservations – a document, where all six EaP countries are put in the same group, despite the level of progress recorded in this format. Wouldn’t be it more logical, if Armenia complained from the document and refused to sign it - a document, which classified Armenia together with Belarus and Azerbaijan – countries from which in the EaP format it is quite a long time there are no real expectation? 

Seeing that this has been digested by Europe, Azerbaijan very soon declared that it does not need the OSCE office in Baku. "The government of Azerbaijan has reported that there is no need for more activities of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Baku. Therefore, the Government of Azerbaijan considers it null and void from the June 4, 2015 the action "of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Azerbaijan and the OSCE on the OSCE Project Coordinator in Baku", signed September 24, 2014. The government provides the OSCE month to complete the technical issues that arise in such a situation," as hrf.report writes, the statement of official Azerbaijan said.

No proper reaction on the closure of this office was heard from Europe, as if they agreed with the ineffectiveness of OSCE. Is this the case? If yes, then does it exist till now? And if no, why doesn’t it properly react to the whims of Azerbaijan.

Logically, not being punished for any misdoing, Azerbaijan would start acting more and more like a "spoiled child" and be "offended" even for a small criticism towards it. This was the case, when the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) condemned Azerbaijan's "systemic repression" of activists and government critics. As if very offended for that "slander," the Azerbaijani President's foreign relations chief Novruz Mammadov, as Sputnik News reports, wrote on his Twitter: "Along with some bodies of the European Union, PACE also demonstrates that international law is of no significance, the principle of "we want everything our way" prevails."  He even added that now Azerbaijan’s future membership is under question. Again no reaction to this from Europe…

This is the third reason for Azerbaijan to feel the "freedom" of doing and saying anything it wants, without even fearing that it can one day be punished.  Hence, another statement, made by Ilham Aliyev, followed, the main idea of which was a complete lie: "Azerbaijan has not joined the Association Agreement with the European Union, because it is not in our interests. This agreement does not imply equal cooperation, but only contained a "list of instructions." We do not fit, as Azerbaijan is establishing equal relations with all countries and organizations." But did the EU asked Azerbaijan to sign the AA? Of course, No!!! Besides telling an obvious lie, he even added that Azerbaijan does not want to be a "secondary member, associate member, or something else" demanding that any agreement with the EU "should provide equal rights and national interests of Azerbaijan," en.cyplive.com writes. Many days have passed since Aliyev’s this declaration, but Europe is still silent…

Taking into consideration the above mentioned, it can be stated that what Azerbaijan does, drops not Azerbaijan’s reputation, as it has never had a good one, but of the EU, which for years has claimed to be the protector of human rights, freedom of speech, democracy, rule of law, etc. In this regard the EU should reconsider its policy towards Azerbaijan, try to restore its reputation as a Union, where interests are not superior to the values – at least they are equal. It is only by reconsidering its policy the EU can claim that it is not responsible for the the violations of ceasefire, that so much intensified after the European games, for the deaths of many Armenians on the borders and for the lack of progress in the negotiations.