Reactions to sanction against Azerbaijan at Council of Europe
On 22 January, on the first day of the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation were challenged due to the failure of the country’s government to adhere to the organization’s principles. This has led to the first-ever sanction against the Azerbaijani government by a Western intergovernmental organization. Public reactions to this critical development, however, were miscellaneous.
Run-up to the vote
As the PACE sessions started on 22 January, a German MP Frank Schwabe initiated the suspension of Azerbaijan’s credentials for multiple reasons, including the growing number of politically motivated arrests in the country, prohibitions for the PACE rapporteurs to visiting prisoners in Baku, the situation of the Nagorno Karabakh Armenians and the refusal of the Azerbaijani authorities to invite PACE to observe the snap presidential election of the 7 February. PACE’s monitoring committee was assigned to prepare a resolution before a final debate on 24 January.
The Monitoring Committee contended that “more than 20 years after joining the Council of Europe, Azerbaijan has not fulfilled major commitments stemming therefrom. Very serious concerns remain as to its ability to conduct free and fair elections, the separation of powers, the weakness of its legislature vis-à-vis the executive, the independence of the judiciary and respect for human rights...” and concluded in favor of not ratifying Azerbaijan’s credentials until “the conditions provided by the Rules of Procedure are met.”
On 24 January, an overwhelming majority of the present MPs – 76 of them against 10 – voted for suspending Azerbaijan’s voting rights for a year. The Delegations of Ukraine and Turkiye supported Azerbaijan. A Ukrainian MP said the expulsion of Azerbaijan would serve Russia.
Before the vote, the Azerbaijani delegation members, led by ruling party MP Samad Seyidov, held a briefing at the lobby of the Council of Europe and made a furious statement: “Following Azerbaijan’s historic victory and restoration of territorial integrity, we are faced with a smear campaign organized to denigrate Azerbaijan and overshadow the country’s achievements towards restoring justice that was denied to the people of Azerbaijan.” The Azerbaijani delegation declared their decision to stop cooperating with the PACE and they left the Council of Europe premises before the voting started.
Media freedom and torture
On 25 January, PACE rapporteur on media freedom and safety of journalists, Mogens Jensen, presented a new report, according to which, there are currently 68 journalists in prison in the Council of Europe area. Jensen emphasized that Turkiye and Azerbaijan have the worst press freedom record. Another report was on torture and ill-treatment in detention facilities in Europe. The report drew attention to the systemic nature of torture in Russia, Turkiye and Azerbaijan. It particularly highlighted the Terter case in Azerbaijan - 2017 mass detentions of military servicemen who were later “subjected to torture and inhuman treatment, with 10 confirmed deaths as a result of that torture.”
Reactions from Azerbaijan
The reactions to the suspension of voting rights of the Azerbaijani delegation at PACE for one year and the prior announcement of Azerbaijani authorities to withdraw from PACE received mixed reactions from the society. Azerbaijani officials accused the Council of Europe of Islamaphobia and Turkophobia. Former PACE co-rapporteur on Azerbaijan, Stefan Schennach declined the accusations, noting that the country disregarded its obligations by not formally inviting PACE for election observation.
The opposition expressed varying perspectives. “Our distancing from Europe increases Armenia’s friends,” Popular Front party chairman Ali Karimli stressed, adding that there will be economic, financial, technological, and visa-related repercussions. Karimli also anticipated escalated repressions in Azerbaijan. Musavat Party leader Arif Hajili warned that the impacts of the ceased relations with PACE will be serious and urged the government to restrain from further anti-West campaigns and to take domestic and foreign policy measures to prevent harm. Republican Alternative chairman Ilgar Mammadov expressed disapproval of the PACE decision and criticized the lines on Karabakh Armenians in the resolution. Civil society representatives commended the PACE resolution, deeming it long overdue.
Ukrainian media reported that although the Azerbaijani delegation could strive for some consensus, they deliberately severed the relations with PACE. This could assumably be done with an intention to neutralize election-related criticism from the Council of Europe in February. Some independent Azerbaijani political analysts believe that the Azerbaijani government will “open the channels of dialogue” with PACE following the snap election.
In the meantime, the Azerbaijani government-linked media bolstered anti-PACE propaganda and spread threats to leave the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.