In 2010, more than ten international non-governmental organizations, in an effort to protect the freedom of expression in Azerbaijan, set up an International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan, an NGO coalition to consolidate efforts and bring this problem up to date in the international institutes.
The International Partnership Group included Britain`s `Article XIX`, `İNDEX on Censorship`, `Media Diversity Institute`, US`s `Freedom House` and the Committee for Protection of Journalists, Norway`s `Human Rights House` Foundation, Denmark`s `International Media Support` as well as international organizations: `Human Rights Watch`, `WAN-IFRA` (the World Association of Publishers and Editors), the `International Press Institute` (IRI), the `International Federation of Journalists`, and the `Reporters without Borders`.
An initiative to create a partnership of this sort to protect the freedom of speech in Azerbaijan was largely due to numerous arrests of journalists in 2007-2008 and the actualization of the issue at international governmental organizations, primarily, the Council of Europe, which Azerbaijan has been a member state to since 1999. At the same time, similar coalitions, though less significant by the scope and number of organizations as represented in the coalition, have been established to actualize the protection of the freedom of expression in other countries having problems; for instance, Russia, Belarus, Italy, Croatia, etc. The Partnership`s activity was backed by the London Office of the Open Society Institute.
However, a further activity of this group, which has initially been designed to protect solely fundamental values, particularly, the freedom of expression, turned into the political one, as testified by the Program Baku Declaration adopted in 2010. As a matter of fact, the International Partnership Group got involved in the process of political pressure against the Government of Azerbaijan, through making efforts aimed at discrediting the country at European political institutes, and actually began realizing target-oriented lobbyist activity against the state of Azerbaijan.
The political background of this group` activity clearly manifested itself during the discussion of a notorious report on the so-called “Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan” by German deputy Christopher Strasser. To be frank, the majority of figures mentioned in Mr. Strasser`s list had absolutely nothing in common with the violation of the freedom of speech in Azerbaijan; nevertheless, the International Partnership got involved in the process of lobbying a political project initiated by Germany`s delegation to the PACE.
It seems that the evident transformation of the International Partnership`s activity made the bigger part of organizations, which earlier joined the Partnership, keep distance, as a matter of fact, from the lobbyist aspirations of the not numerous group.
Transformation of the Partnership`s activity led a greater part of organizations to give up their activities. Of them, there can be outlined Denmark`s International Media Support (the key initiator of creation of the Partnership for Azerbaijan in 2010), as well as the International Press Institute, the International Federation of Journalists, the Committee for Protection of Journalists, and many other organizations responsible for the protection of the freedom of speech and the rights of journalists and bloggers who are persecuted by governments.
No journalists jailed in connection with their professional activity remained in prisons in Azerbaijan in 2011. But later on, as viewed by the majority of international rights championing the protection of the freedom of speech, chief editor of newspaper “Khural”, journalist Avaz Zeynally was arrested exactly because he had criticized the Azerbaijani government. Nevertheless, as compared to the majority of countries where there is total persecution of journalists and bloggers, Azerbaijan, having proclaimed and realized the absolute freedom of the Internet and functioning of social networks, has lost its actuality for international human rights campaigners protecting the right to the freedom of speech.
Beyond any doubts, there are still convicted journalists in the Azerbaijani prisons whom some internal partners of the International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan are seeking to present as prisoners of conscience and victims of the freedom of speech. But such an interpretation of the issue leads to the misunderstanding of the real situation, for the journalists still jailed (except for Avaz Zeynally) have been arrested on charges which have no relation to their professional activity. Many of them are publishers of practically unknown small newspapers and unpopular web-pages who have for long period of time been engaged in racketeering and are not taken by the public opinion as representatives of journalism.
However, for political reasons, some organizations, particularly, US`s Human Rights Watch, Norway`s Human Rights Foundation, UK`s Article XIX, and Britain`s human rights watchdog Amnesty International that joined the Group later, enjoying financial support from the Open Society Institute, continued the lobbyist activity to pressure against European parliamentarians to make them pass the report of German deputy C. Strasser through the PACE. Azerbaijani partners of this coalition were three local NGOs: the Institute for Freedom and Security of Reporters, the Human Rights Club, and the Institute of Media Rights of Azerbaijan.
As viewed by informed sources, adoption of the Christopher Strasser`s report was one of the priority tasks of the German Government, particularly, Chancellor Angela Merkel with the aim of political pressure against the Government of Azerbaijan for the reasons of realization of the German state`s geo-economic interests and “pipeline” ambitions in the Transcaucasian region. A day before Deputy Strasser`s report had been discussed, A. Merkel personally asked the leadership of the Parliamentary Assembly to make every effort to win the majority of votes during the voting procedure at a January session of the PACE.
The Government of Germany considered the institutional mechanism of functioning of a rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan as an effective instrument of pressure against the Government of Azerbaijan during the talks over pipeline Nabucco-West (no documents on transportation of Azerbaijani gas have so far been signed due to strong discords with the A. Merkel government). Exactly for this reason, all the diplomatic efforts of the Government of Germany were designed to create an institutional mechanism of pressure against the Azerbaijani Government through the Council of Europe.
Thus, the International Partnership comprising Western NGOs established in Baku in 2010 turned to be quite in line with the implementation of this strategic mission. Having chosen a number of Western NGOs-conductors of the aforesaid allegoric “salmon diplomacy” as a weapon of its insidious, neo-imperialistic policy, the German foreign policy did it best to form an odious image of Azerbaijan at European public opinion institutions. Otherwise, how can one explain the fact that at a time when there are hundreds of political prisoners in many countries-members of the Council of Europe, the International Partnership mission focused solely on the situation in Azerbaijan as a target?
In fact, many of these organizations view criticism of situation only in one country-member of the Council of Europe as their profile. An NGO coalition consisting of a whole cohort of human rights activists is sent on a special mission to the PACE four times a year, in order to fulfill the only task they are responsible for: to “brainwash” disobedient deputies, who reject double standards, through speaking about the situation in “the only problem country of the Council of Europe”-authoritarian Azerbaijan. According to the logic of salmon diplomacy conductors, among the members of the Council of Europe there is no single authoritarian country but Azerbaijan where the power is usurped by a handful of mighty oligarchs.
These NGOs take no notice of the members of the PACE the problems of political prisoners in Russia, turn a blind eye to 120 journalists and bloggers` being kept in prisons in Turkey, deny the problem of Timoshenko and the whole Batkivshina, are not aware of persecution of journalists in Hungary, reject the despotic system of state criminal in Romania, deny the peace seizure of the strategic media by President`s friends in France, view the ethnic murders and tortures at Germany`s prisons as a myth, while the shooting of peace demonstrators and political executions in Armenia are viewed by them as the very revival of polyarchic democracy. Otherwise, how can such a long-year unhealthy interest only in one country of the continent be explained?
This mission is often joined by PACE member states` human rights activists, who dared to vote against the draft resolution foisted by the German diplomatic machine. In their countries, these deputies are subjected to strange “unveiling campaigns”, they are being slighted, discredited, threatened, and recommended no longer voting against resolutions criticizing Azerbaijan. Anyway, no single special mission responsible for the human rights situation has so far been observed in any country but Azerbaijan in the practice of the PACE International Partnership.
A scandalous report titled “Caviar Diplomacy” made by research institute European Stability Initiative has since January 2011 been the ideological platform of a lobbyist group of a series of Western NGOs that were formed on the basis of the former Partnership.
(to be continued)
on the basis of the materials of salmondiplomacy.com
