WHEN MASKS ARE DROPPED

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution urging the European Union (EU) Council to consider the possibility of applying target sanctions against officials responsible for human rights abuse in Azerbaijan. 

The paper prepared by the Liberals and Democrats faction (ALDE Group) points to growing repressions in Azerbaijan and increased numbers of arrested human rights activists and journalists. 

In addition, the resolution urges the EU member states not to send their observers to the parliamentary election in Azerbaijan scheduled for 1 November. "Any observation mission under the present conditions will be futile and will only serve to legitimize a deeply flawed electoral environment," the resolution reads. 

According to the document, the EU should also demand that the Azerbaijani authorities should revoke their decision to shut down the OSCE office in Baku. 

Official Baku's reaction to the EU Parliament resolution followed without delay. Malena Mard, the head of the EU representative office in Azerbaijan, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where Deputy Minister Mahmud Mam-madquliyev brought to her notice official Baku's discontent with the EU Parliament resolution. 

"The Resolution is full of biased and distorted information on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan. It specifically politicizes the individual criminal cases and raises ungrounded accusations as to their real substance," M.Mammadquliyev said.

He pointed out that the European Parliament's selective approach towards Azerbaijan demonstrates that the human rights issue is used as a tool for pressure on this country: "But the EP members should know that such attempts are doomed to failure from the very inception". 

The deputy minister expressed regret that "the European Commis-sion did not take serious attempts to prevent the European Parliament from voting" on this resolution. 

For her part, M.Mard promised to make the position of the Azerbaijani side known to relevant EU structures, Interfax-Azerbaijan has reported. In connection with the biased resolution, Azerbaijan has cancelled a visit to Baku by a European Commission mission scheduled for the current week. "We should reconsider relations with the European Union given the anti-Azerbaijan and anti-Islam tendencies," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's statement says. Let it be recalled that a mission of the European Commission was to hold preliminary negotiations on a strategic partnership agreement. 

Fuad Alaskarov, head of the department for work with law-enforcement bodies at the Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, has described the anti-Azerbaijani resolution as "political idiocy" of the European Parliament. 

In his article on the 1news.az website, the head of department draws attention to one feature characteristic of the anti-Azerbaijan resolutions. All of them are rubber-stamped by one and the same group of European Parliament members including Ulrike Lunacek, Marietje Schaake, Kati Piri and Ana Gomes. "Discussion" on the drafts lasts only 20 minutes. 

Is there much to discuss?! Most European Parliament members are already familiar with the text as it is a carbon copy of other similar draft resolutions. The vote is not required to be on the merits of the document; it is just a political put-up job. 

"The European Parliament is only a link in a much broader mechanism, by which some Western circles are trying to provide all-round pressure on countries that follow a sound independent policy," F.Alaskarov writes. 

Entering new names in their template, the draft makers managed to politicize even the murder of sports journalist Rasim Aliyev. Meanwhile it is common knowledge in Azerbaijan that his death was the result of an ordinary domestic crime. Even despite this, the head of state has taken the investigation into this case under his personal control. This case can already be considered completely solved as all the persons involved in the journalist's murder have already been arrested. 

F.Alaskarov describes the paragraphs of the resolution in which the European Parliament urges Azerbaijan to implement all the judgements of the European Human Rights Court including the ruling of 16 June 2015 as "apotheosis of hypocrisy and blatant demonstration of pro-Armenia position". 

"The initiators of the resolution intentionally did not specify that the decision of the European Court of June 16, 2015 was on the case Sargsyan vs. Azerbaijan! They demand from our country to implement the judgement in favour of a citizen of Armenia, while nobody demands from Armenia to implement the decision in the case of Ciragov and others vs. Armenia: that very decision, which was made on the same day, June 16. Members of the European Parliament are not outraged by the fact that the European Court, to whose decisions they attach so much importance, since January 2015, does not accept a complaint filed on behalf of our citizens Dilqam Asgarov and Sahbaz Quliyev taken hostage by the Armenians, and on behalf of relatives of Hasan Hasanov killed by the Armenians!" the presidential administration department head emphasizes. 

At the same time, he draws attention to the Armenian roots of some initiators of the European Parliament's anti-Azerbaijan resolution. 

This is not the first time though that an Armenian trace can be seen. The European Parliament accuses Azerbaijan of breaking the rights of the Yunus couple and Xadica [Khadija] Ismayilova but for some reason it stubbornly ignores the rights of millions of Azerbaijani refugees. 

For some reason, the subject of "political prisoners" is brought to the foreground in European circles only ahead of elections in Azerbaijan and international events held in Baku such as the Eurovision 2012 music contest or the First European Games.

Hysterical actions by European structures are as a rule reduced to absurdity, such as calling on the Azerbaijani authorities "for the immediate and unconditional release from jail of all political prisoners". Do such actions not discredit the notion of "law"?! Since when have international rule of law allowed arresting or releasing anyone without charge or trial?! What international document has provisions authorizing interference in the internal affairs of an independent state and obliging it to guide itself by demands of supranational structures rather than its national legislation?! 

Why does the EP not address the same demands, let us say, to the USA where the murder of a journalist is no surprise to anyone?! It is hardly possible that the European structures did not notice the murders of journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward on 26 August 2015. 

It is clear that going against the USA is beyond their power. Well, how about Azerbaijan's neighbour Armenia? Following the same logic, the EP should have come up with a devastating resolution on Yerevan back in 2008 when Serzh Sargsyan, to stay in power, sent tanks to the streets. Weighing on the conscience of Armenia's incumbent authorities are the deaths of eight innocent demonstrators and dozens of politically motivated arrests. 

We can also see inadequate attitudes of the West to whims of the Armenian authorities hampering the work of European missions on the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. "I find this conduct of the Armenian side disagreeable; I am pessimistic about it. However I am concerned about the future and I hope that our visit to the Armenian side will nonetheless take place," PACE rapporteur Milica Markovic has said in an exclusive interview to our magazine. She is leading a monitoring mission to examine the condition of and hazards posed by the Sarsang Reservoir on territories occupied by Armenia. 

So what is the underlying reason for such a selective attitude to the ideas of democracy and human rights?! 

"The dirty scenarios being implemented in the Middle East today were also prepared for Azerbaijan. In 2011-12, some foreign circles were speaking about the rise of an "Arab spring" in Azerbaijan as inevitable. They did whatever they could to exacerbate the situation here and disrupt stability," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said openly at the latest meeting of the government. 

It is towards these ends that millions of dollars from European taxpayers were channelled through the "fifth column" in Azerbaijan. 

We can spend a long time reasoning why Baku dropped out of favour with the Western circles. It may be both because of disobedience to the will of the "seniors" in international matters and because one more strong state with predominant Muslim population has appeared on the world map. But it is beyond all doubt that the latest resolution of the European Parliament was not brought about by their concern for human rights in this country. 

The deplorable results of this "concern" in the Middle East, Syria, Iraq, Libya and Ukraine are obvious. Their territorial integrity has been violated, the countries have been thrown into chaos and it is unknown yet when peace will prevail. The most important thing today is that Europe itself has to reap the fruits of gross interference in those countries' internal affairs. Hundreds of thousands of migrants are trying to escape from "humanitarian bombings" by the West just to Europe. Will the Old World, which is now driven by Islamophobic sentiments, be able to digest those huge numbers of Muslims? In a word, the boomerang is coming back. 

In this situation, Azerbaijan should think twice whether it is worthwhile building up strategic cooperation with a partner bogged down in deep economic and ideological crisis.