DESPITE "THREATENING" RESOLUTIONS

The Azerbaijani media has briefed the public about the preconceived, unacceptable and inappropriate tone of the European Parliament's resolution about human rights violations in our country. It is natural that not just politicians and diplomats, but the public at large should want to know how this resolution might impact on Azerbaijan's relations with Europe. Will this lead to Baku's geopolitical reorientation from the West to the North, to Moscow's Eurasian Economic Union, or to the East, to emerging China and the dynamically developing countries of South-East Asia?

Welcoming Milos Zeman, the President of the Czech Republic, who was paying an official visit to Baku, President Ilham Aliyev said: "An anti-Azerbaijani group has been created in Europe and in the European Parliament which is doing everything possible to discredit and tarnish its image. To me this resolution is nothing more than a scrap of paper and I attach no significance to it. Naturally, I condemn it. However, this resolution will not influence us in any way." 

By expressing himself in this way the Azerbaijani president reaffirmed his readiness to develop mutually advantageous relations with the countries of Europe, ignoring the preconceived ideologically and politically motivated resolutions of individual European organizations. There was an important message in his remark that "Azerbaijan is fully confident that the Southern Gas Corridor project and the construction of the new gas pipeline from Azerbaijan to Europe will be implemented".

This means that Azerbaijan will give a symmetrical response to these verbal attacks and will take the appropriate political steps in response to unfriendly political actions. If - and this is unlikely - it comes to actual sanctions by the European Union, Baku will immediately respond with sanctions of its own. We value our relations with Europe but we are capable, without particularly damaging our own development, of redirecting our industrial, social and scientific projects - in attracting investments, using hi-tech and other technology - to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and so on.

Speaking on 15 September on the Day of Knowledge at secondary school No 148 in Baku, which had been reconstructed to mark this date, President Ilham Aliyev said: "Some forces are trying to subjugate Azerbaijan and to make us live and act according to the will of others. This is impossible, because our successful development lies only in an independent policy. Our independent policy is based on the will of our people, our ethnic values and interests. The interests of Azerbaijan and the security and well-being of the citizens of Azerbaijan are paramount to us. Aware that this pressure and these slander campaigns are having no effect, they are resorting to other methods. We are prepared for this and we are giving and shall give a worthy response."

After a thorough debate on the European Parliament's resolution, the Azerbaijani Milli Maclis [parliament] designated retaliatory political steps. These included initiating a process for withdrawal from the parliamentary assembly of Euronest, winding up the European Union-Azerbaijan Parlia-mentary Cooperation Committee in its present form and a recommendation to the Cabinet of Ministers to review the question of the advisability of Azerbaijan's further participation in the EU's Eastern Partnership programme. Should sanctions be imposed on Azerbaijani officials, it is recommended that a similar ban be imposed on the entry of members of the European parliament into our country. Thus, the Milli Maclis has used this resolution to inform the European Parliament of the impropriety of any pressure and has made it clear that if they think that Azerbaijan can be intimidated by excommunication from European integration programmes, then we are prepared to take steps of our own and without delay.

Even if the decision adopted by the Milli Maclis is taken to its logical conclusion there will be no particular damage to Azerbaijan. The EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee mentioned in the decision has not been operative for many years since the start of the Eastern Partnership programme. I am a part of the Azerbaijani delegation at Euronest and I can say with good reason that this is merely a platform for dialogue. This organization does not have the authority to adopt any significant decisions. Membership of Euronest has relevance only in terms of preventing it being used for the adoption of anti-Azerbaijani resolutions initiated by the Armenians and their lobbyists, which we have successfully done up to now. For their part, the Armenians have blocked the adoption of decisions condemning its aggression against Azerbaijan and the occupation of our territories.

As the Turan news agency has reported, the co-chairs of Euronest - Heidi Hautala (Finland) and Victor Dolidze (Georgia) - issued a statement noting that "participation in the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is the voluntary and sovereign choice of each member. In this sense we welcome and respect the Milli Maclis' decision. Nevertheless, it is a source of regret that the Milli Maclis is depriving itself of a voice at parliamentary sessions that have an obvious importance for the region. In line with the agreements, withdrawal from Euronest comes into force a year after notification. In the course of this period we confirm our readiness to discuss questions with the Milli Maclis". Consequently, the sides have a whole year in reserve to overcome any differences that arise and to continue parliamentary cooperation with the relevant EU structures.

Fuad Isgandarov, the head of Azerbaijan's permanent mission in the European Union, pointed out in his remarks to the media that the European Parliament's resolution has no legal bearing not just for us, but also the executive structures of the EU. The document is non-binding. Therefore, from the legal point of view, it has no impact on the EU's day-to-day activities. The executive structures of the EU (the European Commission, the EU Council and the External Action Service) are not planning to carry out the resolution. He also noted that currently about 50 per cent of Azerbaijan's trade turnover is with member-states of the European Union, and at the same time about half of foreign investments are from Europe.

It would also be appropriate to mention the comments of the Polish political expert, Bartosz Mendik, to the Day.az website that the European Commission, unlike the European Parliament, deals in real politics. He said that there have been regular visits by leading Brussels officials to Baku, including the recent visit by the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. Azerbaijani oil and - in the near future - gas occupy an important place in the strategy of the diversification of energy supplies to the European market. Azerbaijan's solvent and very strong consumer market is the most attractive for European companies in the South Caucasus.

If the relations with the European Union develop according to the worst scenarios and it comes to mutual sanctions and eventual withdrawal from the EU's Eastern Partnership programme, this will not seriously impact on Azerbaijan's bilateral relations with individual European countries. Virtually the whole volume of economic and cultural cooperation with them is regulated by bilateral agreements and is supported by an intensive political dialogue both at the level of heads of state and members of government.

In conclusion, a little more about the selective attitude of the European Parliament and other western parliamentary and human rights organizations to the countries of the South Caucasus. Various claims and de-mands, frequently shaped in an unacceptable tone, are constantly being made against Azerbaijan. These same circles make no mention of the fact that in neighbouring Armenia political opponents and unsuitable journalists are being systematically beaten up and often killed. Dozens of repressed opponents of Serzh Sargsyan's regime of criminal oligarchs are languishing in jails today, but Armenia is only mildly rebuked, but their unspent anger is directed exclusively against dissentient Azerbaijan. Things have reached the point where Armenians, escaping from persecution in their own country, are fleeing to Azerbaijan, which is in a state of a frozen war with Armenia.

Last year, a whole family travelling by car drove through the border into Azerbaijani territory and asked for political asylum. Literally the other day there was a real scandal when a human rights activist, Vaan Martirosyan, persecuted by the Armenian authorities, who had suffered several beatings, crossed with his wife and child via Georgia into Azerbaijan, asking for political asylum. In Yerevan, he was charged with stealing 4,000 dollars and criminal proceedings were taken against him. I would like to remind you that sentences in cases of embezzling many hundreds of thousands of euros and dollars and tax evasion in relation to the heads of some NGOs in Azerbaijan have been described in the West as politically motivated. One wonders how they will react to the Martirosyan case? They probably won't even mention it. Is it any wonder, then, that the calls, demands and bits of advice coming from western capitals no longer meet with a positive reaction in our country?

Azerbaijan, despite the ideologically induced and politically unacceptable preaching by the European Parliament, is developing its relations with the countries of Europe in such important spheres as trade and energy, culture, education and tourism. Some 90 per cent of this cooperation is conducted bilaterally and only a small part of it is regulated by the European Commis-sion. So the European Parli-ament's "threatening" resolutions dismissed by Baku are unlikely to hinder the mutually advantageous partnership between Azerbaijan and Europe in the future.