MEETING ONE'S MATCH

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE], one of the most prestigious organisations in the world, has seen quite a few speeches by heads of the states that are represented in it. But few of those speeches have evoked such a reaction as that made by Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev at the PACE summer session on 24 June; President Aliyev has taken over the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.    

Before taking over the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, the leadership of Azerbaijan stated that it takes a highly responsible attitude to the assumption of its powers, has no intention of simply sitting there, but is preparing to give a new lease of life to this structure by introducing initiatives in the future. The Azerbaijani president's speech in Strasbourg was in the same key.

Ilham Aliyev could not help but know that the representatives of the anti-Azerbaijan forces, of which there were always quite a few in the PACE, were preparing a "surprise" for his speech, namely that they were getting ready to present him with some "homework" in the form announcing the "problems" with human rights in the country. But, as subsequent events showed, these circumstances did not embarrass the head of the Azerbaijani state in the slightest. In the absolutely packed (which is not always the case even when there are  speeches by heads of state) assembly hall, I. Aliyev told the European parliamentarians in a confident, relaxed tone about the results of the economic and political reforms in the country.

As if warning the anti-Azerbaijan forces' representatives gathered in the PACE hall, who had been preparing to accuse the head of Azerbaijan of "mass violations of human rights in the republic", I. Aliyev stressed that all fundamental freedoms are ensured in Azerbaijan: freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of political activity. Moreover, when it comes to some freedoms, Azerbaijan can act as an example to countries which have so called developed democracy.  This applies  to freedom of religion in particular. Azerbaijan with its multinationation and multi-confessional society intends to share with European partners its wealth of experience in ensuring peaceful coexistence among representatives of different nationalities and religions. Incidentally, that is one of the most acute problems in Europe today.

Responding to a remark by the PACE president, Anne Brasseur, regarding the promise made 10 years ago to abide by the commitments of the Council of Europe, I. Aliyev said that he well remembers his speech in 2004 and that Azerbaijan "has met and is meeting all its commitments to the Council of Europe". "We are doing that not because we are obliged to, but because we need that ourselves. In our country all freedoms are ensured, including freedom of speech, expression, religion, association and others. We cannot restrict freedom of speech, we encourage it," said Aliyev.

A separate part of  Ilham Aliyev's speech was devoted to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict and, in this light, the problem of implementing the decisions adopted by international organisations, first and foremost the PACE itself. The president noted that Azerbaijan was itself feeling the effect of the policy of double standards, since not one of the series of decisions and resolutions adopted by these organisations on the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, has been implemented yet. Thus, a mechanism for implementing the resolutions adopted by influential international institutions needs to be worked out. 

So, issues relating to democratic development, encouraging the traditions of multiculturalism, eliminating the differences in the Council of Europe's approach to countries located in a certain region, the working out of mechanisms to promote the adoption ofdecisions by the organisation - all these and other issues will become a priority under Azerbaijan's chairmanship of the Council of Europe ministers' committee.

But "surprises" awaited those present at the session after the speech by the head of state, when time was allocated for questions. It was precisely this moment, which, in accordance with the obvious design of the "well-wishers", should have been used to put the Azerbaijani  president in a difficult position, that, on the contrary, turned into a triumph for I. Aliyev.

The Irish parliamentarian Michael McNamara set the tone for the critical swipes. From a piece of paper he read specially prepared arguments regarding the existence of political prisoners and other violations of human rights in Azerbaijan.  In spite of the expections of McNamara and those of similar opinion, this issue by no means drove I. Aliyev into a corner. The president's reply was categorical and stern: There are no political prisoners in Azerbaijan, and the points made by McNamara are based on false information or come from his customary prejudiced standpoint with regard to the country. It is no accident that some time ago the account of [German rapporteur] Christoph Straesser,  a like-minded person and inspirer of McNamara, was rejected within  the walls of this very same PACE; Straesser had attempted to drag before the parliamentary assembly a resolution asserting that there were so-called political prisoners in Azerbaijan. 

Azerbaijan is a member of the European Court of Human Rights, regards its decisions with respect, and all issues relating to prisoners can be resolved there. "Therefore I would like to note yet again that the attempts to attack our country are completely unfounded and will not have any success," the head of state stressed. 

Some other parliamentarians attempted to level further criticism at Azerbaijan, but these swipes met with similar decisive rebuffs on the part of I. Aliyev. The president stressed that today all freedoms are fully ensured in the country, and any remaining shortcomings, which are incidentally to be found in even the most advanced countries in Europe, are consistently being eliminated. 

It was not for this reason that Azerbaijan abolished censorship of the media, so that someone could try to state that there were problems regarding journalists' activity. And, if the Azerbaijani opposition, in exercising the legal right granted to it to hold demonstrations to express its lack of agreement with the results of the presidential elections (which were incidentally pronounced legitimate by the PACE) only manages to get 860 supporters out into the square, the authorities are not to blame for this either. The assertions that women have problems participating in social and political life in Azerbaijan, a country, which was the first in the East and one of the first in the world to give women the vote, are even more laughable.

In short, a well argumented reply was given to each argument put forward by those present at the session. The president responded to these often provocative attacks, fairly calmly, as befits a person who is sure of the correctness of his words. He showed yet again that Azerbaijan is ready for constructive discussion of any problem and is categorically opposed to attempts to bring unjustified pressure to bear on it. Azerbaijan is opposed to dividing the members of the Council of Europe into "ours and theirs" and is in favour of establishing a dialogue among them on an equal footing.

The country is not only interested in borrowing European values, but, in its new appointment as chairman of the Committee of Ministers, is proposing to European partners that they arm themselves with Azerbaijani values such as the traditions of multiculturalism and the experience in resolving social problems. It is  no accident that after Ilham Aliyev's speech and responses, the deputies, many of whom did in their time occupy high-ranking posts in their countries, hastened to offer their respects to the Azerbaijani leader. By no means every head of state has been accorded such attention after making a speech in Strasbourg.

In their time, the former and current presidents of Armenia were definitely not accorded such a warm reception after they had made speeches at the PACE. Many of the current and former European politicians, who were witnesses to those events, still shudder when they recall how from the rostrum of the PACE, the leading European human rights organisation, Armenia's top officials bragged about their personal involvement in the occupation of Azerbaijani lands and made assertions about "the ethnic and religious incompatibility of Armenians and Azeris". President Ilham Aliyev did incidentally remind the European parliamentarians about these openly racist statements made by the representatives of a mono-ethnic country, which has got rid of almost all the minorities who historically inhabited its territory.

As far as those who wish Azerbaijan ill are concerned, they always existed and where they come from is no secret. Traditionally, these critics are the socialist political group represented at the PACE, under the leadership of Andreas Gross, who is well-known for his openly hostile attitude to Baku. The above-mentioned Christoph Straesser is also a member of this group; in his time Straesser was appointed to report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan on the recommendation of this same Gross, and McNamara is continuing to pursue this matter for them.

The anti-Baku activity of the latter has not produced the desired results. Literally, the next day after President Aliyev's speech, the Irish deputy, obviously dismayed by his fiasco in the dispute with Azerbaijan's leader, raised the issue at the PACE summer session of appointing a new rapporteur to assist in investigating political prisoners in Azerbaijan. But the candidate lobbied by McNamara for this position, the Dutch deputy Pieter Omtzigt, did not manage to win. A fellow rapporteur on Azerbaijan, Pedro Agramunt, managed to get the necessary number of votes; the latter is now preparing a report on this issue.  It remains to be hoped that Agramunt, who has manifested a relatively objective stand with regard to Azerbaijan, is preparing a more balanced, unbiased report which does not contain unfounded criticism.