Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-05-24-Speech-4-386-000"
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"en.20120524.24.4-386-000"2
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"− Mr President, honourable members, European Union-Azerbaijan relations are far from having exploited their full potential. To provide for the country’s political association and economic integration with the European Union, Azerbaijan needs to make significant further efforts to meet the action plan commitments in the field of deep and sustainable democracy, including electoral processes, the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the independence of the judicial system. This assessment is clearly reflected in the ENP progress report issued on 15 May.
The heavy-handed suppression of a wave of moderate protest actions in March, and in particular of the rally in Baku on 2 April, signalled an important setback on the democratisation and human rights front, and signalled non-compliance with the commitments taken towards the EU and in the framework of the Council of Europe and the OSCE. At the same time, the EU welcomes the recent release on 16 May of Elnur Mecidli and hopes for further releases on the occasion of Republic Day on 28 May.
There are frequent reports of violations of property rights, with forced evictions, sometimes against previous court decisions, and without due notification. It remains to be seen how new rules on evictions adopted by the Council of Ministers on 27 February will be implemented and whether they will improve the situation.
Many of you have mentioned the Eurovision Song Contest, which offered a window of opportunity for the authorities. The opportunity seems to have been missed. On 16 May, at a conference on media freedom organised by the Sing for Democracy campaign, the government rejected any criticism but stated that in some individual cases of complaint due investigation is under way. This includes the case of Khadija Ismaylova, an investigative journalist who was harassed, with an attempt at blackmailing. Also on 16 May, during protest actions by the opposition, tens of activists were arrested and later released at a distance of 60 kilometres from Baku.
The media environment is curtailed by self-imposed censorship, and harassment of journalists is frequent. Recent examples include the detention of two journalists in the regional city of Quba and the arrest of a number of journalists on charges of spying for Iran. There are unfortunately many others.
As mentioned, Commissioner Füle’s visit to Baku from 2 to 4 April, on the occasion of the Euronest meeting, gave the opportunity to highlight the EU’s growing concerns about human rights at high political level. The EU reiterates the need for Azerbaijan to fully respect its commitments in the framework of the Council of Europe and the Eastern Partnership. As you know, the EU and Azerbaijan have a very substantial and comprehensive bilateral agenda. The main principle on which the EU builds relations with any country is respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. If the former is compromised then our cooperation loses its essence. There is full transparency concerning in what respect and how the EU assesses the human rights situation in any given country and, as I have already mentioned, the ENP progress report issued in May reflects this assessment clearly.
Finally, the full implementation of the European neighbourhood policy action plan is expected. Political prisoners should be freed, and freedom of assembly and expression should be guaranteed. The EU calls on Azerbaijan to extend an invitation to the Special Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for political prisoners."@en1
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