Azerbaijan | No 3 | May to June 2007

AZERBAIJAN | Trends in Conflict and Cooperation

Pressure has been growing since May against journalists in particular (some of whom are even seeking asylum abroad), and the media, other parts of civil society, and the “relicts” of oppositional parties in general. A controversial event took place on 21 June in the Baku Entertainment Center where the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party held a roundtable discussion on media problems. During the event, representatives from the government and pro-government political parties stated that the press is over-politicized and unprofessional. They also stated that it is still too early to decriminalize libel and defamation. Despite the fact that there are currently seven journalists in prison, they added that there are no problems related to freedom of expression. At the same time, other representatives from the government elite have argued that the imprisoned journalists in Azerbaijan negatively affect Azerbaijan’s image. This caused the ruling party to decide for an appeal to President Ilham Aliyev to release the imprisoned journalists on National Press Day in Azerbaijan, 22 July. It appears that President Aliyev is replacing his father’s old-guard-networks, with his own young-guard- networks. The last “victim” of this policy was the chief police of Azerbaijani capital, Müharram Aliyev, who was requested to resign. This process has been accompanied by a redistribution of wealth and property in favor of young- guard-politicians. In order to strengthen his position within political elites and the army, the President initiated raising salaries and compensations for both groups. This restructuring process also explains several ambitious infrastructure upgrade campaigns and the state-funded building boom, such as new airports located in remote parts of the country. This allows a re-allocation of state resources to private pockets. Even inside the governing Yeni Azerbaijan Party, President Aliyev is replacing the old guard, as shown in the last FAST Update. Such an approach appears to demonstrate that he is preparing a perfect set-up for the 2008 presidential elections and that he has learned quickly from Russian President Putin and other CIS presidents. A predicted next step would be the creation of a fake and powerless opposition for western observers. When President Aliyev visited Berlin this year, he already announced that there was a need for a “new real opposition in Azerbaijan”, and that is why he would help to build one. In order to strengthen the loyalty of power ministries to his regime Aliyev guaranteed impunity to the police. On 2 July, at the graduation ceremony at Azerbaijan’s Police Academy he referred to the violence by police during the parliamentary elections in 2005:”a number of countries and international organizations demanded us to punish the policemen, condemned in violence. However, I stated that no one would be punished, as they were fulfilling their duties. I support the police today as well”. This statement will certainly stimulate the use of limitless violence by police against anyone who criticizes the government, especially journalists and human rights activists. This statement is in contradiction with the obligation of Azerbaijan towards the Council of Europe (PACE) “To prosecute the members of the law-enforcement bodies who have infringed human rights (particularly prohibition of torture) in the course of their duties”. Another attempt to gain more control over the civil society is the financing of NGOs from the state budget. The Ministry of Finance is preparing proposals and a new law could be implemented already from next year on. Officials argue that it would diminish the dependency on foreign grants and could help to develop more understanding and confidence between NGOs and the government. But by sponsoring GoNGOs (governmental non- governmental organizations) the state could split civil society easily in two parts, one part gets “bought” by the state and the other one remains strongly dependent on the goodwill of international donors. Regarding the political situation in the country, it sounded very cynical when President Aliyev declared to establish a Human Rights Day on 18 June in Azerbaijan. The International Human Rights Day is marked in the world on 10 December and it would not have been necessary for Azerbaijan to create its “own” day as the creation of another human rights holiday seem to reflect the actual lack of freedom present. The Institute for Peace and Democracy in Baku was threatened recently by a non authorized picket of members of “Müasir Müsavat” party. Picketers threw eggs and tomatoes against the building and called the institute’s members “Armenian spies”. The police which observed the picketing did not intervene – only the arriving of western diplomats prevented the mob from doing more harm. In Azerbaijan, threatening and militant rhetoric are growing again and leading to an atmosphere of domestic militancy that has hardened the political parameters to such a degree that Azerbaijani society is prepared for nothing less than either complete diplomatic success or a conclusive military victory over Armenia. President Ilham Aliyev and other members of the government repeatedly indicated the army would solve the problem of Karabakh, if diplomacy failed. In this martial atmosphere, the public were very surprised when, on 28 June, a joint delegation made up of 10 Armenian and Azeri intellectuals, and led by the two countries’ respective ambassadors to Russia, travelled to Yerevan, Baku, and Stepanakert for meetings with Armenian President Robert Kocharian, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and de-facto Karabakh President Arkady Gukasyan. They discussed the problem of establishing a dialogue FAST Update | Azerbaijan | No 3 | May to June 2007

between the conflict parties in order to establish mutual trust between them. Talking to the audience, Arkady Gukasyan pointed out the importance of the ambassadors’ initiative, which could not have been possible without the approval of Aliyev and Kocharian He stressed such initiatives could create a healthy and effective atmosphere around the process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. According to the Azerbaijani ambassador Polad Bülbüloglu, more visits between the two countries are intended. The Russian Foreign Ministry praised the Stepanakert-Yerevan- Baku trip of Armenian and Azerbaijani intellectuals as an important step taken by the Nagorno Karabakh conflict sides. Other international negotiators have encouraged both sides to pursue contacts that are not related directly to the conflict such as environmental or cultural issues. However, ambivalent signs came from Baku, where the issue as a whole was kept on a very low level by media, especially because of the first official meeting with the “separatist” President, which was not well-seen by the public.

The first session of the Conference of Framework Convention on Caspian Sea Environment Protection (Teheran Convention, with the assistance of UNEP), held in Baku on 23-25 May, ended without any effective and sustainable results. The main purpose of the Convention is to protect the Caspian Sea from pollution through activities including restoration, conservation, and efficient use of Caspian bio-resources. Environment protection and pollution of the Caspian Sea are very important issues for Azerbaijan, because almost 30% of its coastal area is exposed to contamination. More than half the country’s rivers (50.6%) are considered to be contaminated. All the lakes of the low-lying parts of the Republic are exposed to the changes of the thermal, biological and chemical regimes. The lakes of the Apsheron Peninsula and the Kura-Araks Lowland are in a critical state. Especially in Baku, Sumgait and Ganja, the contamination level according to the amount of different contaminants is several times higher than the average level in the Republic. Another pending problem and threat for the health of the population is the strongly polluted river Kura. Industrial and municipal waste continues to find its way into the river, posing potential health hazards to people for whom its waters are a vital source of drinking water, irrigation and fish. It is largely fed by tributaries in Armenia and Iran as well as Georgia. Azerbaijan gets 40 per cent of its drinking water from the Kura, while the three million people in the capital Baku are almost entirely dependent on the river. There have been hopes that the governments of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia might work together to reduce the sources of pollutants, helped by assistance programs that will become available as states move closer to joining European institutions. But so far, single and joint efforts to solve the problem have not been successful and lack sustainability. The government could improve the situation, but up to now it has made only cosmetic interventions. At least President Ilham Aliyev has recently issued an executive order on taking measures to provide the population with ecologically pure water. This is especially important taking into account that Azerbaijan has only limited water resources. The President’s Reserve Fund will allocate more than US$ 3 million for 2007-2008 on installing module water purifying devices to supply 100 settlements in different districts.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan (HRCA) report that the prison condition in Azerbaijan remains harsh. In particular, the situation in the Qobustan prison is alarming in view of the number of deaths and suicides which was also stated by the PACE in the Resolution N°1545 this year. The fundamental rights of convicts are not respected: bad sanitary conditions, unhealthy food, but also cruel treatment, torture and isolation from relatives make life in Azerbaijani prisons particularly difficult. In December 2006, a convict was burned to death in Qobustan without anybody helping him or even noticing. On 16 June 2007, a mentally perturbed detainee killed his cellmate cutting his throat. Therefore it was no surprise that on 20 June, 38 inmates – some claim that there were much more – condemned to life sentences began a hunger strike to alert the authorities and the international community about their precarious situation. The strikers demanded to apply the PACE Resolution N°1545, to ensure a case-by-case review of life sentences and to improve their conditions of detention.

Despite the threatening and militant rhetoric on the Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani authorities should start to prepare the population to accept measures which are currently being negotiated between the conflict parties. Therefore, contacts which have recently been established between Azerbaijani and Armenian civil society groups, but also the recent joint delegation of intellectuals, led by the two countries’ respective ambassadors to Russia, are very important and could lead in the long run to a greater acceptance of any peaceful conflict resolution regarding Karabakh and the occupied territories.

Contact FAST International is the early warning program of swisspeace, FAST International covering 25 countries/regions in Africa, Asia and Europe. Based in Country Team: Azerbaijan Bern, Switzerland, the program is funded and utilized by an Sonnenbergstrasse 17 international consortium of development agencies, including the 3000 Bern 7 Austrian Development Agency (ADA), the Canadian International Switzerland Development Agency (CIDA), the Swedish International Development [email protected] Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Swiss Agency for Development and www.swisspeace.org Cooperation (SDC).