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  • Time For Sanctions On Baku

    TIME FOR SANCTIONS ON BAKU

    AzeriReport
    Oct 3 2014

    As the West has turned its attention to the Islamic State and
    the Ukraine crisis, the government of President Ilham Aliyev has
    expanded its crackdown on dissenting voices in Azerbaijan with
    harassment, threats, beatings, and arrests. Even American citizens
    and international NGOs have bet caught up in the widening net of
    repression. These actions demand a response.

    By David J. Kramer and Richard Kauzlarich, The American Interest

    WASHINGTON, DC. October 3, 2014: For years, Belarus's leader Alexander
    Lukashenka has been called Europe's last dictator, although Vladimir
    Putin is giving Lukashenka a run for his money, amidst the worst
    crackdown on human rights in Russia in decades. And now we might also
    add another leader in the region to the list: President Ilham Aliyev
    of Azerbaijan.

    After an accelerating series of arrests, Aliyev's government now
    holds nearly 100 political prisoners, roughly double the number in
    Belarus and Russia combined. Beyond the raw numbers, Azerbaijan's
    authorities are also getting more thuggish in their handling of
    critics, journalists, and opposition figures--as well as Westerners.

    Statements of concern and criticism from Western and international
    officials and organizations have fallen on deaf ears in Baku. Even
    President Obama's recent criticism of Azerbaijan's treatment of NGOs
    made no impact. To the contrary, there are now credible reports that
    the Azerbaijani authorities plan to arrest investigative journalist
    Khadija Ismayilova when she returns to Baku from a trip abroad. The
    best way to try to reverse this disturbing trend is to impose penalties
    on the Aliyev regime for its outrageous treatment of its own people.

    Among the most egregious abuses are the July 30 arrests of civil
    society activists Leyla and Arif Yunus, accused of spying for Armenian
    secret services--implausible charges linked to the decades-old dispute
    over Nagorno-Karabakh. On August 20, journalist Ilgar Nasibov was
    savagely beaten into a state of unconsciousness while he was in
    the office of a rights organization in the Naxcivan region. Several
    leading opposition figures--including Ilgar Mamedov of the opposition
    movement REAL and Tofig Yakublu of Musavat--languish in prison on
    unsubstantiated charges.

    American citizens and organizations are not immune from Azerbaijan's
    heavy-handed intolerance of dissenting voices. Said Nuri, an American
    citizen of Azerbaijani origin, was recently blocked for nearly a
    week from leaving Baku, after visiting his ailing father. The local
    offices of several American and international non-governmental
    organizations have been raided and/or their bank accounts frozen,
    and their employees harassed including IREX, the National Democratic
    Institute, Transparency International, and Oxfam. Several grantees of
    the National Endowment for Democracy have been arrested, and numerous
    others have had their accounts frozen.

    Azerbaijan's smear campaign has included U.S. officials, too. Recently
    departed U.S. Ambassador Richard Morningstar was subjected to various
    personal attacks by Azerbaijani government representatives, including
    the Chief of the Presidential Administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev. Senate
    staffers during a visit to Baku earlier this year were called "dogs"
    by a prosecutor and "spies" by a parliamentarian after meeting with
    Khadija Ismayilova.

    Any individual or organization that criticizes Aliyev or promotes
    democracy is viewed as hostile. Mehdiyev has characterized independent
    media as "anti-Azerbaijani forces" financed from abroad.

    The Council of Europe's human rights chief, Nils Muiznieks,
    slammed the Azerbaijani government earlier this month for the
    "totally unacceptable" human rights situation, which, he said,
    "flies in the face of the human rights obligations undertaken by
    Azerbaijan" as a member of the Council. In August, several UN human
    rights envoys said they were "appalled" by the growing number of
    abuses and arrests of rights activists "on the basis of trumped-up
    charges." The "criminalization of rights activists must stop," they
    declared, calling for the release of the Yunuses and others.

    For years, Azerbaijan's oil and gas reserves insulated the country
    from exposure for its abysmal human rights record. The West's attention
    lately has been focused on the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the challenge
    of the Islamic State, giving the Aliyev regime a sense that it can
    get away with its crackdown. To be safe, at last month's NATO summit
    it offered to take part in investment and reconstruction projects in
    Afghanistan, betting that contributions to the allied effort would
    buy it a pass on its internal situation. Azerbaijan has also thrown
    around lots of the money it has earned from energy exports to buy
    influence and friends in the West.

    Azerbaijani authorities often argue that they live in a tough
    neighborhood--sandwiched between Russia and Iran and with an unresolved
    conflict with Armenia--and that this should excuse them for their
    behavior. Geopolitics, however, shouldn't shield Azerbaijan from
    criticism for treating its citizens and Western organizations as
    criminals.

    It's time, therefore, for the United States to apply a law modeled
    on the 2012 Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law and Accountability Act to
    authorities in Baku. A number of Azerbaijani activists have called for
    such measures. Given the reported assets the Aliyev family and its
    circle hold overseas, freezing their assets and denying them access
    and travel to the West might just do the trick. The State Department
    should also issue a travel warning to American citizens alerting them
    of the surveillance, harassment, and possible detention they might
    face in Azerbaijan.

    At a time when Vladimir Putin is continuing Russia's aggression
    against Ukraine, some will argue that, for geopolitical reasons,
    this is not the time for the United States to get tough on Azerbaijan.

    There is never a good time to take such steps, but the situation inside
    Azerbaijan demands a response now. Further Western expressions of
    "concern" or characterizations of the situation as "unacceptable"
    would sound increasingly hollow. The Aliyev regime must understand
    that there are consequences for its abuses. -0-

    http://azerireport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4421&Ite mid=53

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