Experts on Azerbaijan’s crackdown on civil society

The government of Azerbaijan has recently intensified its crackdown on the civil society by persecuting prominent human rights defenders (among them Leyla Yunus, Arif Yunus, Rasul Jafarov and others) which has been harshly criticized by the international community. On the reasons and effects of this crackdown Panorama.am has spoken to Amnesty International’s researcher on Azerbaijan Natalia Nozadze, Caucasus Programme Associate at Conciliation Resources Laurence Broers and Russian expert on Caucasus Andrey Yepifantsev.

According to the Amnesty International’s researcher on Azerbaijan Natalia Nozadze, the state crackdown on the civil society has not begun just now; it has been going on for at least five years. As for the reasons for current intensification N. Nozadze highlighted the following, “First, the international community until now has not really managed to challenge Azerbaijan effectively on their poor human rights record; second, Azerbaijan is a resource rich country, which means that sometimes trade and economic reasons overshadow the human rights concerns and they become second-hand and third-hand issues. Also, there hasn’t been any accountability for those people who have been arrested, harassed and threatened just because they were brave enough to criticize the government or work on issues that the government was uncomfortable with.”

N. Nozadze also noted that along with this deplorable human rights record, Azerbaijan has got to host a number of prestigious international events such as Eurovision and the first European Athletic Games in 2015, which demonstrates the negligence from the rest of the world regarding the human rights issues in Azerbaijan. “This negligence, combined with the shrinking space for civil society in Azerbaijan for the last couple of years, has actually forced many human rights defenders and journalists to leave Azerbaijan and those who haven’t are behind the bars. And if one is charged with politically motivated crimes in Azerbaijan it is likely that you will not get a fair trial, while outside of the country your resources are also limited (the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights may be pending for a couple of years),” added the expert.

Commenting on the impact of this government policy on the reconciliation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the civil society level, N. Nozadze said, “The effect that it can have on the Nagorno Karabakh issue is unfortunate because if there is no civil society left in Azerbaijan that can reach out to dialogue then there is no room left for reconciliation. We can see that at present the government is not able to come to any consensus or agreement, so the next step would be for the civil society actors to move this process forward but unfortunately even that avenue has been closed by arresting people in Azerbaijan who have been quite active in this reconciliation process.” In this regard she agreed with the statement made by
PACE Rapporteur Mailis Reps on that the charges against the famous human rights defenders involved in reconciliation projects are “retaliation for her work on reconciliation between Azerbaijan and Armenia and threaten to stifle further progress in this crucial sphere.” 

Russian expert on the Caucasus Andrei Yepifantsev also mentioned that this crackdown is not news but said that the current intensification can be explained by the fact that Azerbaijan is getting nervous as it sees that the West cannot in any way help it return Nagorno Karabakh, while at the same time it presses Azerbaijan on the standards of human rights and democracy, which has always been Azerbaijan’s weak spot. “So under these circumstances Aliyev has started a crackdown on ‘the fifth column’ which in some way can ensure the mobilization of the society for a possible launching of war against Armenia, as this will silence criticism against Azerbaijan on the part of outspoken human rights activists,” said Yepifantsev. Having said this, the expert also mentioned that Azerbaijan should not be risking launching a war against Armenia or Nagorno Karabakh as it can backfire upon Azerbaijan and strengthen Armenia’s positions.

Commenting on the arrest of Leyla and Arif Yunus Caucasus Programme Associate at Conciliation Resources Laurence Broers said that although there have been arrests on charges of contact with Armenian intelligence services before (for example, the case of Ruslan Bashirli in 2006), “the use of this charge against such well-known human rights activists seems to cross a new line, in which cross-conflict contact is no longer managed with intimidation or self-censorship but criminalization, and is used to silence activists on issues broader than the Karabakh conflict.”

“In the longer term, the situation that is being created today is leading to the extinguishing of any narrative or perspective about the Karabakh conflict outside of the state. The many diverse, often contradictory, perspectives at the grassroots - among activists, NGOs, academics and others - are being drowned out by a single story that is told by the state. There are two risks here - one that the conflict simply becomes an instrument in the hands of power-holders, the other that the story they tell will be seen only as legitimate as they are. Azerbaijanis have many legitimate grievances in this conflict, and these need to be heard in all their diversity. The silencing not only of Arif and Leyla, but also of many other civic voices, such as Ganja intellectual Hasan Huseynli, are steps in the opposite direction,” noted L. Broers.

Dr. Broers also highlighted the fact that it is impossible to have a discussion for example, on what a self-governing Armenian entity within Azerbaijan (which, however unlikely from an Armenian perspective, is still Azerbaijan's preferred outcome to this conflict) or about the Armenian capacities to support a peace agreement, for example capacities in NK to protect the rights of a population of Azerbaijani returnees. “These developments also seem to be pre-conditioned by a prioritization of internal politics over the peace process, and indeed the use of the latter to achieve goals relating to the former,” he noted.

Answering the question about the current state of Armenian-Azerbaijani peace-building process after the Safarov case Broers said, “the Safarov case was a great set-back for Armenian-Azerbaijani confidence building, but sadly is only one of a number of challenges. Right now, Armenian-Azerbaijani peacebuilding is facing one of its most challenging periods, with all sides digging in for "all or nothing" in an international environment crowded with hot wars across Eurasia and the Middle East. In this context even attracting attention to the Karabakh conflict is a challenge.”

At the same time L. Broers spoke about the work that the Conciliation Resources www.epnk.org is currently doing in the field. In Azerbaijan Conciliation Resources supports a network of organizations working on the issues of displaced communities and in Nagorno Karabakh the organization supports the independent journal Analyticon where different views, including those of Azerbaijani journalists, can be heard. CR also runs a format called the Karabakh Contact Group, which aims to be a safe space for creative joint thinking on major policy issues confronting an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace settlement, such as the return of displaced communities and negotiating the status of NK. They also support a joint team of Armenian and Azerbaijani film-makers to make a three-part series about the Karabakh conflict itself which aims to provoke dialogue both within and between the societies involved.