The European Parliament has passed a resolution accusing Baku of putting pressure on non-governmental organizations and limiting the right to freedom of speech. U.S. President Barack Obama spoke about it a month ago, though Azerbaijan had passed a bill a year earlier making the procedure for registering NGOs harder. Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thornbjorn Jagland recently published an article in the Guardian, linking the UK’s plan to leave the European Court of Human Rights over the arrest of Azerbaijani and international NGOs in Baku.
Politologist Rasim Musabekov said that the criticism from the West was not a serious attack. The recent resolution by the European Parliament has not been the first one on Azerbaijan, he notes. Musabekov believes that the document was pushed by a few dozen people, including members of the Armenian lobby. The expert noted that there were hundreds of such documents and they were usually left forgotten a week after being passed.
Musabekov said that cooperation with the West should be assessed by energy projects. He assumed that the rising criticism was a reaction to the independent foreign policy of Azerbaijan. The analyst called Azerbaijan a self-sufficient country and added that teaching it how to implement its foreign policy was pointless.
Concerning the arrests of NGO members, Musabekov stated that investigators had materials about the suspects’ involvement in terrorism and plans to organize terrorist attacks in Baku.
Asim Mollazadeh associates the criticism of Azerbaijan with the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide in 1915. Rich and politically-active Armenians, he says, are using the moment to add pressure on Azerbaijan and Turkey. He reminded that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was the author of resolution N907 against Azerbaijan when he had been a senator for Massachusetts and closely connected with the Armenian National Congress of the U.S.
The expert said it was down to the unwillingess of Armenia to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh peacefully. In his words, it is an attempt to draw attention away from its aggressive policy and cause tensions in relations between Azerbaijan and the West. He reminded that Baku was cooperating with Europe in fighting terrorism.
Concluding his evaluation, Mollazadeh said that neither Moscow nor Washington, Brussels or Ankara had the role of an elder brother of Azerbaijan. He emphasized that Azerbaijan needed partners, friends and good neighbours and would not let anyone tell it how to carry out its policy.
The European Parliament has passed a resolution accusing Baku of pressurizing non-governmental organizations and limiting the right for freedom of speech. U.S. President Barack Obama had talked about it a month ago, though Azerbaijan had passed the bill making the procedure of registering NGOs harder a year earlier. Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thornbjorn Jagland has recently published an article in Guardian, who has associated UK’s plan to leave the European Court of Human Rights over the arrest of Azerbaijani and international NGOs in Baku.Politologist Rasim Musabekov said that criticism from the West was not a serious attack. The recent resolution of the European Parliament has not been the first one for Azerbaijan, he reminds. Musabekov believes that the document was pushed by a few dozens of people, including members of the Armenian lobby. The expert noted that there were hundreds of such documents and they were usually left forgotten a week after being passed.Musabekov said that cooperation with the West should be evaluated by energy projects. He assumed that the rising criticism was a reaction to the independent foreign policy of Azerbaijan. The analyst called Azerbaijan a self-sufficient country and added that teaching it how to realize its foreign policy was pointless.Concerning the arrests of NGO members, Musabekov stated that investigators had materials about the suspects’ involvement in terrorism and plans to organize terrorist attacks in Baku.Asim Mollazadeh associates the criticism of Azerbaijan with the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide in 1915. Rich and politically active Armenians, as he says, use the moment to add pressure on Azerbaijan and Turkey. He reminded that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was the author of resolution N907 against Azerbaijan when he had been the senator from Massachusetts and closely connected with the Armenian National Congress of the U.S.The expert called it unreadiness of Armenia for settling the Nagorno-Karabakh peacefully. In his words, it is an attempt to draw attention away from its aggressive policy and cause tensions in relations between Azerbaijan and the West. He reminded that Baku was cooperating with Europe in fighting terrorism.Concluding his evaluation, Mollazadeh said that neither Moscow, nor Washington, Brussels or Ankara had the role of an elder brother of Azerbaijan. He emphasized that Azerbaijan needed partners, friends, good neighbours and would not let anyone tell it how to carry out its pol
