By Orkhan Sattarov, exclusively to VK
The situation with human rights in Azerbaijan became one of the most urgent topics for German media of late. This elevated attention to the home affairs of a remote South Caucasian republic became a true surprise for Azeri public activists as well as for bureaucrats. The former have been invited to Germany on various occasions lately to tell the concerned audience about the human rights violations in Azerbaijan. However, only members of Azeri opposition and critically disposed non-governmental organizations are invited to these discussions, while any offers to participate in these round tables by the Azeri officials in Berlin are immediately declined, so the unanimous ‘indictment’ of the Azeri government is inevitable. So despite their demands to ensure free speech and pluralism in Azerbaijan, the German human right ‘activists’ don’t give their opponents a chance to speak for themselves.
However, the discussion on the topic of the situation with human rights in Azerbaijan held by the German Society under the UN was a lucky exception. Not only Professor Hoeve Halbach from the ‘Science and Politics” Foundation and German representative to the European Council Christophe Strasser were invited to this round table discussion, but the counsellor of the Azerbaijani Embassy in the BRD, Rizvan Nabiyev, as well. However, his presence was not planned by the organisors of the event from the start, and only the intence negotiations between them and the Embassy made it possible.
When the modertor of the discussion announced that Mr Strasser refused to participate, everyone was very dissapointed : after all, this political figuer is one of the most firece German crtics of Azerbaijani regime, and he was gong to voice his report on the Azeri ‘political convicts’.
It is possible that this sudden ‘desertion’ is due to the recent resolution of the European Council stipulating that no discussions on ‘political convicts’ should be held before the Council finalizes the definition of this notion. But it is also possible that the German expert simply tried to avoid a direct discussion with an Azeri diplomat understanding the vulnerability of his position. But even though Mr Strasser refused to participate in the discussion at the very last moment, Mr Nabiyev pointed out that even before he started compiling his report on ‘political convicts’ in Azerbaijan he declared that ‘the results of the research will be very inconvenient for the Azeri government”, thus violating the main rule of compilation of such reports – observance of objectivity.
According to the moderator of the discussion, who cited the Reporters Without Borders organization report, the level of mass-media freedom in Azerbaijan is even lower than in Afghanistan. However, Azeri diplomat didn’t hesitate to disprove this statement by pointing out that it is an opposition paper that has the highest circulation in Azerbaijan, and, unlike Afghanistan, in Azerbaijan foreign reporters are free to go where they want. He also informed his opponents that the state often covers opposition papers’ debts to the publishing houses.
As for the allegations about the restriction of the freedom of gatherings in the country, Nabiyev said that only in the last couple of weeks some 3-4 peaceful protest actions took place in Azerbaijan. Only unsanctioned rallies are being dispersed by the police, so the attitude towards opposition protest rallies in Azerbaijan is actually the same as in Europe. Nabiyev also stressed the complex geopolitical position of Azerbaijan: apart from the fact that some of its territories are occupied by Armenia, it finds itself between two major regional powers, Iran and Russia, each pursuing its own interests. He also said that Azerbaijan became independent only 20 years ago and is still undergoing the reformation process.
When his opponents pointed out that 20 years is enough time to build a democracy, Nabiyev reminded them that even 20 years after the Nazi regime fell the situation in the BRD was still ambiguous: for example, the incident with the ‘politically incorrect’ publication by the ‘Spiegel’ and the following arrest of its editor.
Professor Wilfried Furmann from the Potsdam University also pointed out that while critisising ceveral aspects of human rights observance in Azerbaijan, Germany does nothing to help with the Nagorno-Karabakh situation, which clearly also puts the most important human rights of the Azeri inhabitants of the occupied territories at risk.
Another German expert suggested that the Germans should also attribute more attention to the inter-cultural differences and stop imposing their standards on other states. And an Iranian Azerbaijani present at the discussion said that in Iran they can only dream of the freedoms granted to everyone in Azerbaijan.
The head of the German Azeris coordination Center, Samira Patser-Ismailova said that, even though all the topics that came to light in the German media in connection with the upcoming ‘Eurovision – 2012’ contest dues to be held in Azerbaijan are truly important, the intensity of criticism looks like a real harassment and as a warning to all young states participating in the contest: ‘Beware of victory, it might become punishable’.
In the end all the participants of the discussion agreed that all the calls to boycott the contest are absurd. Even though the opponents didn’t agree on all aspects of the problem (no one expected that), the audience of the discussion finally understood that the spectrum of opinions on Azerbaijan is much wider than some of the western media agencies try to make it seem.
