Europe risks repeating with Azerbaijan the mistake it made with Russia: confusing dependence on an authoritarian ruler with a durable strategic partnership.
In a guest article for Germany’s @fr, Turkel Karimli argues that the West does not have to choose between its values and its interests. Azerbaijan’s democratic forces support national sovereignty, European integration and closer relations with the democratic world. Supporting them advances both Azerbaijan’s national interests and Western security.
Meanwhile, Ali Karimli remains imprisoned on fabricated charges, denied contact with his family and subjected to deliberate sleep deprivation. Hundreds of other political prisoners remain behind bars. Engagement without consequences has convinced the regime that repression carries no meaningful cost.
Turkel calls on Britain and the EU to use the leverage they already possess: make the immediate release of Ali Karimli and all political prisoners an explicit diplomatic priority, impose targeted sanctions on officials responsible for serious abuses, and scrutinise assets linked to the ruling elite wherever the evidence warrants it.
A durable Western partnership with Azerbaijan must extend beyond relations with the government of the day and recognise the country’s people and democratic future.
Read the full article:
https://t.co/L9g0VBp2Ez
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Azerbaycan’da tesettürlü bir kız öğrenci, arkadaşlarının yanında gözyaşları içerisinde sınıftan çıkarıldı.
Hem kız öğrenci hem de arkadaşları gözyaşlarını tutamadı.
Western governments face a problem of hypocrisy in Azerbaijan: they seek deeper ties with President Ilham Aliyev’s authoritarian government while he imprisons pro-Western democrats. https://t.co/lYGw0Cyjf3
Ali Karimli’s imprisonment is not only a human-rights crisis. It exposes a strategic contradiction at the heart of Western policy towards Azerbaijan.
Writing in the @KyivPost, Azerbaijani journalist Ganimat Zahid asks how Western governments can build a durable partnership with Baku while the authorities imprison the democratic voices most committed to Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and European future.
Karimli has consistently defended Ukraine, opposed Russian aggression and argued that Azerbaijan’s future lies with the democratic world. Yet he remains imprisoned on fabricated charges while the government deepens its relations with Moscow and Beijing.
Engagement without consequences for repression does not secure long-term stability. It rewards the destruction of the very democratic forces on which any genuine and lasting partnership with Azerbaijan must ultimately depend.
Following calls from bipartisan US senators and an overwhelming European Parliament vote, Washington, Brussels and London should turn engagement into leverage. Deeper relations must be conditional on the immediate and unconditional release of Ali Karimli and all political prisoners.
The West’s partnership should be with Azerbaijan and its people, not simply the government of the day.
Read the full article:
https://t.co/ukxorSe1o8