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WHAT IS KNOWN IN THE WORLD IS UNKNOWN IN BAKU
Saturday, 20 December 2014 16:05
For years and especially for the last few months, the Azerbaijani
authorities have been heavily criticized by international structures
for the unprecedented total violation of human rights and persecution
of dissenters. The U.S. State Department, the European Union, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and a number
of international human rights organizations have repeatedly issued
statements condemning the actions of the Azerbaijani leadership on
suppressing the opponents of the ruling regime in Baku.
In particular, during the recent PACE debates on the situation of human
rights in Azerbaijan, it was stressed that all human rights activists,
who had cooperated with the Council of Europe, were behind bars.
And here is quite a fresh example - the statement issued a few
days ago by the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)
uniting dozens of NGOs in Europe. The statement condemns the mass
repressions of the Azerbaijani authorities against democratic and
human rights activists and public figures. "During the arrest, the
rights of political prisoners are grossly violated, they are tortured
and treated inhumanely", this is just one quote from the document,
which contains a lot of tough and hard-hitting assessments. In its
statement, the coalition of European NGOs urges the Azerbaijani
authorities to immediately release all political prisoners, and the
international community calls to continue any forms of pressure on
the Azerbaijani Government to stop the crackdown on the civil society.
Azerbaijan has long been reputed to be a dictatorial state, the
President of which, intoxicated by the smell of oil and petrodollars,
imagines himself the undisputed idol. In these conditions, to hope that
official Baku will learn lessons from the international criticism and
will take corresponding steps to improve the situation with human
rights is, at least, naive. Moreover, those in Baku believe that
the matter isn't at all the respect for human rights and it is the
subjective choice of Azerbaijan as a target, because its independent
policy allegedly worries seriously the anti-Azerbaijani forces in
the USA, which... have ties with the Armenian lobby. However, the
paradox is that Azerbaijan does not simply ignore the criticism. It
displays aggression against those who "dared" to criticize and demand
its respect for democratic principles and norms of a civilized society.
Even the USA has not escaped this fate. It has recently been listed
among the most stringent critics of Azerbaijan. The State Department
expressed concern about the growing restrictions in Azerbaijan in
relation to civil society activists, noting that the Government
did not comply with its international obligations in the field
of human rights. The reaction was immediate: the spokesman for
the Azerbaijani President regarded the statements of the State
Department and representatives of some international organizations
as "continuation of the biased campaign against Azerbaijan, which is
not based on any facts and realities". Moreover, he actually accused
the State Department of lying, stating that "it presents false and
biased information to the international community". Krylov's fable
about the elephant and the pug is truly immortal...
It is obvious that the tone of Azerbaijan in the controversy with
its critics in the West has changed in the recent years, becoming, as
mentioned earlier, more aggressive. Most likely, this is due to both
the lack of any grave arguments in Baku justifying its dictatorial
actions and the fact that Azerbaijan was forgiven almost everything
for a long time, and being confident of its innocence and impunity,
it afforded a lot. As a result, the Azerbaijani authorities have
lost the sense of reality, admitting the possibility of attacks even
on authoritative international organizations. But, the Azerbaijani
authorities would change their own principles, if they didn't connect
even the human rights situation in their country and the objective
criticism against them with the issue of Nagorno Karabakh.
As it turned out, representatives of the Azerbaijani authorities have
their own version of changing their tone towards the West. A few days
ago, the head of the Social and Political Issues Department of the
Azerbaijani President's Administration, Ali Hasanov, gave an interview
to ANS TV channel, expressing resentment with almost the entire world.
"We have long tried to prove to the world that Armenia is an aggressor
and Azerbaijan was subjected to aggression. We believed that the world,
the Council of Europe, OSCE, NATO, and the United States did not know
about it. But after 10 years, we understood that they were well aware
of this. Why then no sanctions have beenimposed on the separatist
leaders of aggressive Armenia so far?", complains the official. Then
heexpressively sums up, "Just due to all this, we started talking
with the West on its own language. We say if human rights are indeed
so valuable for these circles, then let them restore the basic civil
rights of one million people expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh".
Hasanov's imagination can paint anything, even a million of refugees
from Nagorno Karabakh, the Azerbaijani population of which even in
the Soviet period was no more than 40 thousand people. But, this is by
the way. As for the sanctions to curb the aggressor, what Hasanovsaid
is a pebble thrown to their own garden, because, deliberately or
undeliberately, he can say whatever he wants, but the facts testify
to the contrary. Namely, the violation of the rights of thousands and
thousands of people in Artsakh and unleashing a war against them is
real aggression. Following Hasanov's rhetoric and paraphrasing it,
we can say that, apparently, the world, the Council of Europe, OSCE,
NATO, and the United States know about it.
Leonid MARTIROSSIAN
Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1655:-what-is-known-in-the-world-is-unknown-in-baku&catid=3:all&Itemid=4
Saturday, 20 December 2014 16:05
For years and especially for the last few months, the Azerbaijani
authorities have been heavily criticized by international structures
for the unprecedented total violation of human rights and persecution
of dissenters. The U.S. State Department, the European Union, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and a number
of international human rights organizations have repeatedly issued
statements condemning the actions of the Azerbaijani leadership on
suppressing the opponents of the ruling regime in Baku.
In particular, during the recent PACE debates on the situation of human
rights in Azerbaijan, it was stressed that all human rights activists,
who had cooperated with the Council of Europe, were behind bars.
And here is quite a fresh example - the statement issued a few
days ago by the European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)
uniting dozens of NGOs in Europe. The statement condemns the mass
repressions of the Azerbaijani authorities against democratic and
human rights activists and public figures. "During the arrest, the
rights of political prisoners are grossly violated, they are tortured
and treated inhumanely", this is just one quote from the document,
which contains a lot of tough and hard-hitting assessments. In its
statement, the coalition of European NGOs urges the Azerbaijani
authorities to immediately release all political prisoners, and the
international community calls to continue any forms of pressure on
the Azerbaijani Government to stop the crackdown on the civil society.
Azerbaijan has long been reputed to be a dictatorial state, the
President of which, intoxicated by the smell of oil and petrodollars,
imagines himself the undisputed idol. In these conditions, to hope that
official Baku will learn lessons from the international criticism and
will take corresponding steps to improve the situation with human
rights is, at least, naive. Moreover, those in Baku believe that
the matter isn't at all the respect for human rights and it is the
subjective choice of Azerbaijan as a target, because its independent
policy allegedly worries seriously the anti-Azerbaijani forces in
the USA, which... have ties with the Armenian lobby. However, the
paradox is that Azerbaijan does not simply ignore the criticism. It
displays aggression against those who "dared" to criticize and demand
its respect for democratic principles and norms of a civilized society.
Even the USA has not escaped this fate. It has recently been listed
among the most stringent critics of Azerbaijan. The State Department
expressed concern about the growing restrictions in Azerbaijan in
relation to civil society activists, noting that the Government
did not comply with its international obligations in the field
of human rights. The reaction was immediate: the spokesman for
the Azerbaijani President regarded the statements of the State
Department and representatives of some international organizations
as "continuation of the biased campaign against Azerbaijan, which is
not based on any facts and realities". Moreover, he actually accused
the State Department of lying, stating that "it presents false and
biased information to the international community". Krylov's fable
about the elephant and the pug is truly immortal...
It is obvious that the tone of Azerbaijan in the controversy with
its critics in the West has changed in the recent years, becoming, as
mentioned earlier, more aggressive. Most likely, this is due to both
the lack of any grave arguments in Baku justifying its dictatorial
actions and the fact that Azerbaijan was forgiven almost everything
for a long time, and being confident of its innocence and impunity,
it afforded a lot. As a result, the Azerbaijani authorities have
lost the sense of reality, admitting the possibility of attacks even
on authoritative international organizations. But, the Azerbaijani
authorities would change their own principles, if they didn't connect
even the human rights situation in their country and the objective
criticism against them with the issue of Nagorno Karabakh.
As it turned out, representatives of the Azerbaijani authorities have
their own version of changing their tone towards the West. A few days
ago, the head of the Social and Political Issues Department of the
Azerbaijani President's Administration, Ali Hasanov, gave an interview
to ANS TV channel, expressing resentment with almost the entire world.
"We have long tried to prove to the world that Armenia is an aggressor
and Azerbaijan was subjected to aggression. We believed that the world,
the Council of Europe, OSCE, NATO, and the United States did not know
about it. But after 10 years, we understood that they were well aware
of this. Why then no sanctions have beenimposed on the separatist
leaders of aggressive Armenia so far?", complains the official. Then
heexpressively sums up, "Just due to all this, we started talking
with the West on its own language. We say if human rights are indeed
so valuable for these circles, then let them restore the basic civil
rights of one million people expelled from Nagorno-Karabakh".
Hasanov's imagination can paint anything, even a million of refugees
from Nagorno Karabakh, the Azerbaijani population of which even in
the Soviet period was no more than 40 thousand people. But, this is by
the way. As for the sanctions to curb the aggressor, what Hasanovsaid
is a pebble thrown to their own garden, because, deliberately or
undeliberately, he can say whatever he wants, but the facts testify
to the contrary. Namely, the violation of the rights of thousands and
thousands of people in Artsakh and unleashing a war against them is
real aggression. Following Hasanov's rhetoric and paraphrasing it,
we can say that, apparently, the world, the Council of Europe, OSCE,
NATO, and the United States know about it.
Leonid MARTIROSSIAN
Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper
http://artsakhtert.com/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1655:-what-is-known-in-the-world-is-unknown-in-baku&catid=3:all&Itemid=4