Media: Ilham Aliyev boots out OSCE and runs smiling through Baku streets with Olympic torch
Two days after his government booted out the OSCE, a smiling Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev ran through the streets of Baku with an Olympic torch of the European Games, a presidential pet-project that kicks off on June 12, Eurasianet.org writes.
“Long live President Ilham Aliyev!” “Success for the first European Games!” cheered a crowd of onlookers in a scene reminiscent of Soviet-era staging as the 53-year-old leader jogged along. Within Azerbaijan these days, panegyrics to Aliyev dominate traditional media. With some of the government’s most outspoken critics now in jail, critical scrutiny of the “landmark event” from within Azerbaijan is expressed with caution, according to Eurasianet.org.
On June 5, Baku requested the closure of the OSCE office in Azerbaijan without providing an explanation. The 56-member OSCE will continue the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict-resolution efforts through the so-called Minsk Group, led by the US, France and Russia, but will no longer be able to engage with Azerbaijan’s embattled civil society, Eurasianet.org writes.
Citing Agence France-Presse, Aquila Style writes that energy-rich Azerbaijan has pumped vast sums into hosting the European Games in a bid to burnish its image and cement the country’s place in the European community, but under the surface, critics say, is a grim reality of rights violations and repression.
Rights activists in the country hope the glitzy event will focus international attention not on sporting prowess — but Azerbaijan’s record for jailing scores of opponents and cracking down on dissent. “Our civil society is shattered. Without European countries’ help we simply can’t withstand the government’s repression,” prominent Azerbaijani rights activist, Elshan Gasanov, told AFP.
Prominent investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova has been in detention since December 2014. Speaking over the phone from prison to AFP, Ismayilova said the tax evasion charges brought against her were absurd and totally unfounded. “I expect a harsh verdict. They will steal some 10 years of my life, but I am not scared,” she told AFP.
It is highlighted in the article that international rights groups have long criticized Aliyev’s poor rights record but are now also lashing out at Western governments. They argue that many in the West are so keen to secure crucial energy supplies from Azerbaijan. Aliyev fiercely denies the accusations of rights abuses. “All fundamental freedoms and rights are fully guaranteed in Azerbaijan,” his top aide, Ali Gasanov, told AFP in a letter, denouncing “political propaganda and the smear campaign waged against Azerbaijan and orchestrated from abroad.”
The sports showcase is not Azerbaijan’s first attempt to put itself on the map by splashing the cash flowing from its vast oil and gas reserves. In 2012, Azerbaijan hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku. Despite two failed attempts the country is also determined to bid for the Olympic Games themselves, according to the article.
On 12-28 June, Baku will host the first European Games under the auspices of the European Olympic Committee. According to media estimates, the Games will cost the Azerbaijani population $10 billion. However, they have become a serious headache for the locals with numerous bans and demolition of property. The preparatory works for the Games are accompanied by crackdowns and brutal repressions against dissent.
Related:
OSCE calls on Azerbaijani government to reconsider its intention to close Baku office
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