Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-26-Speech-3-317"
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"en.20051026.21.3-317"2
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".
Madam President, there are only 11 days left before the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan begin. What is quite striking in that connection is that the media in Baku are dominated by reports about spectacular dismissals and arrests of members of the government and top officials in the country’s oil industry. The official statements and indictments speak of conspiracy with the opposition against the lawful authorities and corruption.
This is not a very uplifting image to take to the ballot boxes. That is why I am very surprised that the joint draft resolution makes no reference whatever to these recent events. In this resolution, the opposition is being dismissed, for the sake of public opinion, as a party that is about to carry out a
and, at the same time, President Ilham Aliyev can portray himself as the unimpeachable enforcer of law and order. No wonder I heard a key expert on Azerbaijan lamenting, last night, that ‘those parliamentary elections of 6 November are a waste of time and a waste of money!’
That will definitely not, though, put a stop to his commitment. He, too, will be travelling to Azerbaijan as an observer. The same can, this evening, be said of the European institutions, the Commission and this House. Any electoral improvement is welcome. Hence my appeal to the Commission and all international organisations involved, in fact, to urgently press for the meticulous registration of all voters (ink marking of the thumb, for example) by the Azerbaijani authorities. This is a precautionary measure that President Aliyev, in a speech before regional magistrates yesterday, said he would seriously consider. After all, there has, in the recent past, been no lack of cases of vote rigging, a truly national tradition that is taking on ever more refined forms in Azerbaijan these days.
I should like to take this opportunity to emphasise that the gagging and marginalising of the democratic opposition in Azerbaijan can, in time, have serious political consequences, not only at national level, but just as much at regional level. Repressive, authoritarian rule by the regime in power spawns a process of political polarisation and radicalisation among the forces opposing it, which will express themselves in increasing anti-western attitudes. I would warn the Commission not to underestimate this development.
This radicalisation will manifest itself just as much in growing Islamic aspirations. This, for example, is evident from an opinion poll held during the winter of 2004-2005, in which 23.2% were in support of the idea of an Islamic state, and another 28.9% welcomed the partial introduction of Islamic
law – a vague sign, certainly when set alongside the stricter Islamic regime currently in power in Teheran.
I have to tell the Commission that the wealth of Azerbaijan’s energy resources, or fine talk about such things as democratisation and (geo)political stability, should not temporarily blind us to what Azerbaijan and its people fundamentally lack – the democratic rule of law. I would urge you and the Council to be clear and forthright in calling the leaders in Baku to account on this matter – never mind the domestic electoral battle – certainly when such heavy charges as planning a
and embezzling public funds are brought against prominent citizens.
To sum up, we should, most of all, guard against the murky power game that President Aliyev and his evidently changing
are playing today. That game is about the greedy division among themselves of the richly flowing oil funds and about playing senior party members and reformists off against one other. European aloofness and a word of caution are really called for here, for the benefit of Azerbaijan’s society."@en1
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