No. 32 5 December 2011 Abkhazia South Ossetia caucasus Adjara analytical digest Nagorno- Karabakh resourcesecurityinstitute.org www.laender-analysen.de www.res.ethz.ch www.boell.ge Upcoming mega-events in the caUcasUs ■■Azerbaijan’s Eurovision Story: Great Chances to Improve, But No Political Will 2 By Shahin Abbasov, Baku ■■Georgia and the Sochi Olympic Games 5 By Molly Corso, Tbilisi institute for European, Research Centre Center german association for HEinrich Böll STiftung Russian, and Eurasian Studies for East European Studies for Security Studies East European Studies South Caucasus The george Washington University of Bremen ETH Zurich University CaUCaSUS aNALYTiCAL DIGEST No. 32, 5 December 2011 2 Azerbaijan’s Eurovision Story: Great Chances to Improve, But No Political Will By Shahin Abbasov, Baku Abstract Holding the Eurovision song contest in Baku in May 2012 will bring intense international attention to Azer- baijan and pose numerous logistical and infrastructure challenges for the current government. Many civil society groups hope to use the opportunity to press for liberalization, but the authorities show no sign of giving in to such pressure. Victory and democratic record and the victory became another Thousands of people flooded the Baku streets late at tool that local civil society groups and the interna- night on May 15, 2011, to celebrate the victory of Azer- tional community could use to pressure the author- baijan’s “Ell & Nikki” duo at the Eurovision contest ities to liberalize. in Duesseldorf. The partying continued until dawn at Not surprisingly, the pardon of Azerbaijan’s best squares and parks where people waved national flags, known political prisoner, journalist Eynulla Fatul- danced, honked car horns and shared their joy together. layev, a few weeks after the Eurovision victory struck Two newly-born babies in the country’s Geychay region political analysts, human rights defenders and even were given the names Eldar and Nigar in honor of the foreign diplomats as evidence of Baku’s desire to host winning singers. the event next year with a good image. US Ambassa- The victory at the continent’s annual pop-music con- dor to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza claimed that Fatul- test was an important matter of prestige for Azerbaijani layev’s pardon and release from jail “launches a new authorities as well. Top-government officials had never era of reforms in Azerbaijan.” “What can be a better hidden their ambitions to win after Azerbaijan decided start for the preparation process to Eurovision-2012 to participate in Eurovision only four years earlier. in Baku?” the US Ambassador said. Unfortunately, Azerbaijan’s influential first lady Mehriban Aliyeva the authorities did not follow this initial gesture with personally contributed a lot to this victory. Aliyeva’s other concessions. semi-governmental Heydar Aliyev Foundation invested Azerbaijani officials have said several times that the in the singers’ preparation for Eurovision, the public- country will comply with all its obligations concern- ity campaign surrounding it, and other issues related to ing hosting the Eurovision contest, including allowing the contest. Accordingly, President Ilham Aliyev later the arrival of Armenian delegations and tourists to Baku appointed his wife to chair the Organizing Committee during that period. In the past, Baku has hosted Arme- to host Eurovision-2012 in Baku. nian sports teams for various international tournaments. President Aliyev basked in Azerbaijan’s victory, In the meantime, Armenia has yet to decide officially if calling Eurovision “the most prestigious music con- it will send participants for the competition. There are test worldwide.” “Its audience was more than 100 mil- no publicly available black lists for other potential vis- lion people this year. To win first place in such a pres- itors. One such list includes the names of people who tigious contest is the historical victory of Azerbaijani visited Nagorno-Karabakh without coordinating with youth, people and the state,” he said. Baku, but it is not known how many people are on the The victory in Duesseldorf has indeed drawn exten- list or their identities. sive international attention to Azerbaijan. In the course of two days—May 16 and 17—more than 800 million The Role of Civil Society people searched the word “Azerbaijan” on the Internet. Local human rights defenders said that they hoped that Thus numerous government officials declared repeat- the authorities would gradually release all or almost all edly that the victory had great “political importance for political prisoners. These inmates are mostly opposition Azerbaijan’s international image.” and youth activists arrested during unauthorized rallies in Baku in March and April 2011. Human Rights Challenges In late May, a large group of local civil society In the meantime, along with the joy and obvious bene- activists (human rights defenders, journalists, politi- fits it brought, the Eurovision victory also posed several cal experts) signed an appeal to President Ilham Aliyev challenges to the government both domestically and calling on him to release all political prisoners. “Host- internationally. Azerbaijan has a poor human rights ing Eurovision in Baku is of course a very important CaUCaSUS aNALYTiCAL DIGEST No. 32, 5 December 2011 3 event and it will attract increased international atten- Ambitious Construction Plans tion to Azerbaijan, to its rich culture but also to the cur- Meanwhile, hardly anyone in Azerbaijan doubts that rent political situation in the country,” the letter reads. Baku will be able to host the Eurovision contest next year It calls on the president to “undertake steps to reduce at a high level given the vast financial resources flowing tension in society” in part by releasing all political pris- from the country’s growing hydrocarbon exports. The oners, including journalists, youth activists, and civic 2011 Eurovision contest in Dusseldorf cost EUR46 mil- and political activists. On July 1 this group held a large lion, according to official data. During the last five years, civil society forum entitled “Eurovision Without Politi- the government has been spending up to EUR5 billion cal Prisoners” in Baku. annually for various infrastructure projects. Later, in September, another group of civil society The government has already launched several ambi- organizations initiated a second campaign called “Free tious projects in preparation for the May 2012 festiv- song in an unfree country,” seeking to attract inter- ities. The president ordered the construction of a new national attention to human rights problems in Azer- “Crystal Palace” sport-concert complex for this pur- baijan. The campaign found support among respected pose to be located at the recently opened National Flag human rights organizations in France, the Czech Repub- Square in Baku bay. In mid-July, after a German com- lic, Poland, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany and pany prepared a feasibility study, President Aliyev allo- other countries. This coalition plans to launch a special cated about $7.6 million from his reserve fund to start web-site and post a series of videos addressing human construction. rights problems in the country. The scale of the works is huge. Within the upcom- “For us Eurovision is not just a song contest. It is a ing seven months, Baku Boulevard will be extended historical chance to improve the situation in the area more than 1 kilometer to reach National Flag Square, of human rights and democracy,” according to Emin according to officials from the Baku mayor’s office. All Huseynov, the director of the Baku-based Institute for existing buildings along the route have been demolished, Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) and an active including the large ship-building plant, which work- member of the coalition. ers dismantled and will reconstruct outside Baku. “All However, despite the efforts of human rights orga- works are being carried out in order to host the Eurovi- nizations and the optimism of some political analysts sion contest,” officials said. who believe that the government will have to take liber- alizing steps under the glare of the international atten- Lack of Transparency in Government tion surrounding Eurovision, there is no sign that the Spending authorities in Azerbaijan are planning any steps to sat- While officials gladly share their construction plans with isfy these expectations. The political prisoner problem the media, the issue of expenditures for all these works remains unsolved, the human rights record has not seri- has them over a barrel. Members of the first lady’s orga- ously improved and freedom of assembly is still a prob- nizing committee do not disclose how much they are lem in the country. spending. They have yet to make public even a prelim- Moreover, there have been several incidents involv- inary budget. ing foreign journalists recently. In April the govern- In late November, some opposition media quot- ment deported three Swedish journalists, and in July a ing anonymous well-placed sources reported that the German journalist left the country because of obstacles government will spend EUR1 billion to host Eurovi- blocking his work in Nakchivan, he said. sion next year. Government officials including Finance These incidents, along with numerous appeals by Minister Samir Sharifov denied these reports, arguing local civil society groups, led the European Broadcasting that the exact amount of budget expenditures for this Union (EBU), Eurovision’s official organizer, to ques- particular purpose had not been determined yet. Of tion the government of Azerbaijan concerning freedom course, the one billion euro figure is a media allega- of speech and movement for journalists and other guests tion but the absence of better data only highlights the of the upcoming show. In his letter to the EBU in Octo- lack of transparency surrounding government expen- ber, Prime Minister Arthur Rasizadeh provided assur- ditures in Azerbaijan. ances concerning the simplification of the visa regime Indeed, it would be naïve to expect transparency in for Eurovision-2012 guests and ensured their safety.