EDITORIAL
Those who speak a language of threat to Azerbaijan know that it
is time to put an end to these bad habits. Since Azerbaijan has
succeeded in guaranteeing its territorial integrity and
sovereignty, this method is no longer useful.
However, it seems that President Ilham Aliyev’s message to the
world about this has not yet reached some people engaged in
political affairs. Although the head of the European Stability
Initiative (ESI), Gerald Knaus, claims that he is closely
interested in human rights issues and has experience in this field,
his views on Azerbaijan do not correspond with his background
information. Knaus called on the PACE rapporteurs to take steps
related to the release of the political prisoners allegedly
‘imprisoned’ in Azerbaijan. However, the European activist
approached the issue one-sidedly.
First of all, those who are interested in freedom of speech and
human rights in Azerbaijan can familiarise themselves with the
situation in the country. Along with state-owned media
organisations, opposition media subjects also operate freely in
Azerbaijan. As for politicians and journalists, they are not
subjected to pressure, but conditions are created for them.
In our days, the topic of freedom of speech and political
persecution has become the most convenient tool for a smear
campaign against the countries they want to slander in the
countries of the European Union. After its victory in the Second
Garabagh War, Azerbaijan was subjected to a storm of slander and
persecution. Undoubtedly, this campaign, carried out with the
organisational support of the Armenian lobby, is fully compatible
with the financial interests of representatives of some so-called
human rights organisations in Europe. For this reason, Mr. Gerald
Knaus forgot the statistical data until 2020 when talking about
human rights in Azerbaijan.
If he has forgotten, then we will remind him:
First of all, since the 1990s, the fact that more than one
million Azerbaijanis were forcibly expelled from their lands and
became refugees is considered a tragedy in the world. However, the
Council of Europe is indifferent to human rights and even tries to
ignore the issue.
The delegation of Azerbaijan represented in PACE tried to say
these things in the last winter session. However, some politicians
who found comfort in the financial support of the Armenian lobby
tried to prevent this.
How is it that PACE and the Committee of Ministers want
Azerbaijan to remain a member state of the organisation but do not
want to hear the right voice of Azerbaijan for this? Do the
‘political prisoners’ they talk about really bother them so
much?
Let’s make this clear:
Until the Patriotic War, Azerbaijan agreed to all the demands
and proposals of the Council of Europe. This led to the solution of
the Garabagh problem in favour of Armenia. Both the Human Rights
Commission of the Council of Europe, PACE, and the Minsk Group of
the OSCE were trying to freeze the conflict by drawing a veil over
the realities. The fate of more than one million refugees and
innocent citizens killed in Garabagh was completely out of their
interest. But when the geopolitical processes changed, all
recognised and unrecognised organisations in Europe stood up and
directed their black propaganda against Azerbaijan under the guise
of the independent media—but working for Western forces in fact.
Those so-called media subjects, financed by various secret sources,
suddenly became active and began to increase their pressure on the
state. Even with information consisting of blackmail and lies,
those media outlets started to grist to the enemy’s mill by
publishing anti-Azerbaijan information.
Azerbaijan is well aware of who and which organisations receive
financial support for such media subjects that only deal in money.
If they wanted the prosperity of the country, why do they intervene
in Azerbaijan’s internal issues and broadcast anti-Azerbaijani
information instead of exposing the atrocities committed by the
Armenians in Garabagh, mine problems, as well as anti-Azerbaijani
forces?
Azerbaijan does not have any obligations towards politicians and
organisations that act on such double standards. If we are talking
about the law, then all parties must comply with the legal norms
and at least not interfere in the internal affairs of
Azerbaijan.
As for Gerald Knaus’s posts about Azerbaijan, looking at his
social media page, it is immediately clear that Azerbaijan is
specifically targeted. Because spotlighting Azerbaijan amid so many
problems in the world means nothing but a purposeful step.
In my opinion, Knaus completely forgot about the political
repression and persecution in Armenia, including the unfinished
criminal facts. It should be recalled that the Helsinki Committee’s
annual statement on human rights contains hundreds of documents
related to the facts of political persecution and death in Armenia.
Political prisoners arrested in Armenia are tortured and even
brutally killed.
In addition, the Human Rights Commission of the Council of
Europe can make a statement about the Azerbaijani journalist who
was subjected to pressure in France. Also, the people who were
beaten by the police in anti-government protests in Paris and other
cities have at least the same rights as everyone else. It is the
duty of activists like Gerald Knaus to see it and take a look at
this, at least…
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