Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini (RFE/RL)
The European Parliament has said it will not ratify a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan if the country ‘does not respect fundamental EU values and rights’. In Wednesday’s plenary session, parliament instructed the European Council, European Commission, and specifically EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to prioritise fundamental freedoms and the fight against corruption in ongoing negotiations with the authorities in Baku.
In a press release following the plenary session, Parliament clarified the conditions for deeper cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan.
‘No comprehensive agreement will be ratified with a country that does not respect fundamental EU values and rights, in particular with regard to the failure to implement decisions by the European Court of Human Rights and with respect to harassment, intimidation and persecution of human rights defenders, NGOs, opposition members, lawyers, journalists, and environmental activists’, reads the final version of the resolution.
The resolution lists Ilgar Mammadov, Afgan Mukhtarli, Mehman Huseynov, Ilkin Rustamzada, Seymur Haziyev, Rashad Ramazanov, Elchin Ismayilli, Giyas Ibrahimov, Beyram Mammadov, Asif Yusifli, Fuad Gahramanli, Khadija Ismayilova and Intigam Aliyev as ‘emblematic cases’ of restricting political freedoms.
The resolution has included an amendment to the motion put forward by the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group, condemning the detention of Azerbaijani lawyer Emin Aslan and demanding Azerbaijan to end ‘the use of administrative detentions to silence government critics’.
In reference to ‘economic crimes’ that Azerbaijan’s government must address, parliament mentioned the ‘Laundromat affair’ as the latest instance of state-supported money laundering. The Laundromat investigation, originally conducted by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), revealed a $2.9 billion laundering scheme, allegedly operated by the Azerbaijani authorities and used to bribe high-level European figures.
In a special resolution in September 2017, MEPs condemned the alleged bribery scheme. Several days before the latest EU resolution, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) expelled 13 members for accepting gifts and bribes from the Azerbaijani government.
Fuad Isgandarov, the head of the delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the EU, criticised the ‘preconditions’, noting that Azerbaijan also had ‘red lines’ but never highlighted them as such. Isgandarov said the ‘EU has, as a minimum, no less interest’ in negotiations on the agreement and that ‘any attempt to blackmail each other or undermine the negotiations will not succeed’.
Negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement started in February 2017 after President Ilham Aliyev visited Brussels. The Agreement would be the next step in advancing the EU’s relations with Azerbaijan, superseding the bilateral Partnership and Cooperation Agreement signed in 1996.
Human right in Azerbaijan
International rights groups like Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, and Amnesty International have frequently condemned Azerbaijan’s human rights record.
In its 2018 report, Human Rights Watch said that during a continuing crackdown on independent voices, Azerbaijani authorities convicted at least 25 journalists and political activists last tear, while dozens more were detained or are under criminal investigation, face harassment and travel bans, or have fled.
Freedom House’s Nation in Transit 2018 report named Azerbaijan as one of ‘Eurasia’s entrenched autocracies — [where] personalised regimes keep a tight grip on power, suppressing political competition and targeting independent activists and journalists who dare to speak out’.
Over the last month, Azerbaijan’s official government news agency Azertac has published multiple articles focusing on ethnic Azerbaijani candidates running for the ruling Georgian Dream party, while failing to provide a platform for Azerbaijani opposition candidates.
On 16 October, Azertac interviewed Georgian Dream MP Zaur Darghalli, who said that his party had guaranteed stability in Georgia, and elaborated on how it was able to keep the peace for the last 12 years.
‘These elections are
Ethnic Talysh activist Mirhafiz Jafarzade, who advocated for the creation of Talysh school textbooks in Azerbaijan, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of treason.
Jafarzade, who is also a Russian citizen, was found guilty of treason in the form of espionage on Thursday. Jafarzade was detained by the authorities in November 2022.
That day, pro-government media reported that the trial had determined that Jafarzade worked ‘in secret cooperation with foreign special services
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said Azerbaijan is taking ‘constructive’ actions to facilitate the right to return of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, as evidence mounts of the demolition of residential and cultural heritage buildings in Nagorno-Karabakh.
‘We have repeatedly commented on and emphasised the constructive steps taken by Baku to provide the population that left their native places with the opportunity to return there’, Zakharova said during a press briefing o
Peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan appear to be at a standstill as Armenia continues to push for an agreement to be signed ahead of November’s COP29 summit in Baku.
On Tuesday, Sargis Khandanyan, an MP from Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract party, told Armenpress that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan offered to organise a meeting to conclude and sign a peace agreement ahead of the summit, which is scheduled to be held in Baku between 11–22 November.
He said that Pashinyan made the offer
The European Parliament has said it will not ratify a comprehensive agreement with Azerbaijan if the country ‘does not respect fundamental EU values and rights’. In Wednesday’s plenary session, parliament instructed the European Council, European Commission, and specifically EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to prioritise fundamental freedoms and the fight against corruption in ongoing negotiations with the authorities in Baku.
