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talkpoliticsThere were just two EU representatives at last week's opening ceremony of the newly launched European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. And, while the visit of Romanian prime minister Victor Ponta did cause a scandal, after the Romanian president Claus Iohannis had said he hadn't been informed about it, and qualified it as a "diplomatic gaffe", there was no problem for Vladimir Putin, Recep Erdogan, Alexander Lukashenko and Tomislav Nikolic to be present there - as well as the president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov, and his Tadjik counterpart Emomali Rahmon.
The first European Games in history started in Baku last week, and will proceed until June 28. There will be over 6000 athletes from 50 European countries, competing in 20 sports.
The Azeri government had long been preparing for this event. For a simple reason: sport can be easily used to create a positive international image for a country. Azerbaijan was aiming to place itself on the world's sports map, particularly the European map - and be noticed.
There is a problem, though. The regime in Azerbaijan is known as one of the most authoritarian in the region. Obviously, it is not sparing money to build an international image of itself, to show off in front of the world. The whole event is said to cost about 1.1. billion dollars - a price that seems OK for the Azeris, as long as it helps them "show the country as a vibrant, modern European nation with high achievements". In reality though, the two-week event could reach a cost of 8 billion dollars, as per Meydan TV claims - because the government has also vowed to cover the travel and accommodation expenses for all 6000 athletes.
There is no doubt that Azerbaijan would stop at nothing to welcome its foreign guests in style. An enormous fleet of cars, fashioned after the world-famous London cabs, but now sporting the European Games logo, await at the brand new Baku airport. A special new bus line also transports the visitors to and from the city center. Except, in the life of the ordinary Azeri citizen, all of this costs a pile of restrictions and bans, all done for the sake of unleashing the full glory of the international event. Many boulevards around town are exceptionally used for the Games, while the locals have to cram themselves into heavy traffic. No cargo trucks are allowed in Baku. All weddings and funeral ceremonies are discouraged. As well as drying laundry on the front balconies of the larger streets, or even driving older and uglier cars around town.
But that is only the superficial part of the problems. In fact, while Azerbaijan is directing much of its resources to creating a positive image in front of the world, at home the government has been leading the most brutal repression campaign since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since 2014, the authorities have systematically worked for uprooting any dissent. A number of civil-rights groups have been banned, many of their members put behind bars. The most prominent human rights activists and the most critical journalists have been arrested and jailed on fabricated charges. The solicitors who have dared to try defending the political prisoners have been fiercely pressured.
The European Games are most certainly one of the reasons for this monstrous assault on human and civil rights. After all, the government seems to have learned its lesson from 2012, when Baku was hosting the Eurovision song contest. The human rights groups tend to use such international events to draw attention to the country, and raise the question of the extremely dire human rights situation in the country - which they did back then.
This time Azerbaijan has decided to play safe and shut the mouth of its critics well in advance. And it's not like the government doesn't have anything to hide. For example, investigating journalist Khadija Ismayilova has shown cases of top-level corruption, even involving the president's family. The human rights advocate Intigam Aliyev has sued the state at the European Human Rights Court a number of times, due to heavy human rights violations. And activist Rasul Djafarov has drawn the international focus on dozens of cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
A couple of months ago, Djafarov was sentenced to 6.5 years in jail on questionable charges of "illicit entrepreneurship", tax evasion and power abuse. A few days later, Intigam Aliyev was also sentenced to 7.5 years in jail on similar fabricated charges. And Khadidja Ismayilova, who had previously earned several international awards for her work as an investigating journalist and who has worked for the Radio Free Europe, was arrested last year, and charged with inciting a former colleague of hers to commit suicide. Later, when the same colleague disproved these charges, Ismayilova was conveniently charged with illicit entrepreneurship, tax evasion and power abuse as well, and is now facing 12 years in prison.
And these are just a few examples out of many, showing an Azerbaijan that the authorities wouldn't like to show to the world, but one that they apparently want to shape up - a country without freedom of speech, without criticism of power abuse and law violation, with no transparency and accountability.
The European Games could have been used by the government to show to its own citizens and the rest of the world that it is prepared and willing to respect human rights and liberties. Instead, it has turned the protection and advocacy of those rights into a crime.
A week ago, three key international figures urged Azerbaijan to free the arrested activists before the start of the European Games. The initiative was started by the Human Rights Commissioner of the European Council, Niels Muiznieks, the Special UN Rapporteur, Michael Grost, and the OSCE Freedom of the Media representative, Dunja Mijatovic. The three urged the participating European athletes to do the same.
Sadly, the response was more than clear. A few days before the opening of the Games, Azerbaijan refused to let the Amnesty International delegation into the country, and also banned the journalists from The Guardian and other representatives of major international media from attending the Games.
No doubt, the government will continue to be very busy in the future. Formula 1 will have a race from its 2016 calendar there, and the new UEFA European Cup system that aims to spread the event into a more diverse set of host cities across the continent, will grant Azerbaijan 4 football matches in 2020. Plus, Azerbaijan is running two simultaneous bids to host future Olympic Games. Given the huge number of big international events that Azerbaijan is aiming to use for crafting a prestigious international image for itself, there is apparently no time left for discussing the subject of tolerance and pluralism at home. But the European leaders may be able to make an impact - if they wanted to. After all, it is never too late for them to show some guts and take a firm stance, and send a clear message to Azerbaijan that Europe would not tolerate political repression. Or maybe it is?
The first European Games in history started in Baku last week, and will proceed until June 28. There will be over 6000 athletes from 50 European countries, competing in 20 sports.
The Azeri government had long been preparing for this event. For a simple reason: sport can be easily used to create a positive international image for a country. Azerbaijan was aiming to place itself on the world's sports map, particularly the European map - and be noticed.
There is a problem, though. The regime in Azerbaijan is known as one of the most authoritarian in the region. Obviously, it is not sparing money to build an international image of itself, to show off in front of the world. The whole event is said to cost about 1.1. billion dollars - a price that seems OK for the Azeris, as long as it helps them "show the country as a vibrant, modern European nation with high achievements". In reality though, the two-week event could reach a cost of 8 billion dollars, as per Meydan TV claims - because the government has also vowed to cover the travel and accommodation expenses for all 6000 athletes.
There is no doubt that Azerbaijan would stop at nothing to welcome its foreign guests in style. An enormous fleet of cars, fashioned after the world-famous London cabs, but now sporting the European Games logo, await at the brand new Baku airport. A special new bus line also transports the visitors to and from the city center. Except, in the life of the ordinary Azeri citizen, all of this costs a pile of restrictions and bans, all done for the sake of unleashing the full glory of the international event. Many boulevards around town are exceptionally used for the Games, while the locals have to cram themselves into heavy traffic. No cargo trucks are allowed in Baku. All weddings and funeral ceremonies are discouraged. As well as drying laundry on the front balconies of the larger streets, or even driving older and uglier cars around town.
But that is only the superficial part of the problems. In fact, while Azerbaijan is directing much of its resources to creating a positive image in front of the world, at home the government has been leading the most brutal repression campaign since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since 2014, the authorities have systematically worked for uprooting any dissent. A number of civil-rights groups have been banned, many of their members put behind bars. The most prominent human rights activists and the most critical journalists have been arrested and jailed on fabricated charges. The solicitors who have dared to try defending the political prisoners have been fiercely pressured.
The European Games are most certainly one of the reasons for this monstrous assault on human and civil rights. After all, the government seems to have learned its lesson from 2012, when Baku was hosting the Eurovision song contest. The human rights groups tend to use such international events to draw attention to the country, and raise the question of the extremely dire human rights situation in the country - which they did back then.
This time Azerbaijan has decided to play safe and shut the mouth of its critics well in advance. And it's not like the government doesn't have anything to hide. For example, investigating journalist Khadija Ismayilova has shown cases of top-level corruption, even involving the president's family. The human rights advocate Intigam Aliyev has sued the state at the European Human Rights Court a number of times, due to heavy human rights violations. And activist Rasul Djafarov has drawn the international focus on dozens of cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
A couple of months ago, Djafarov was sentenced to 6.5 years in jail on questionable charges of "illicit entrepreneurship", tax evasion and power abuse. A few days later, Intigam Aliyev was also sentenced to 7.5 years in jail on similar fabricated charges. And Khadidja Ismayilova, who had previously earned several international awards for her work as an investigating journalist and who has worked for the Radio Free Europe, was arrested last year, and charged with inciting a former colleague of hers to commit suicide. Later, when the same colleague disproved these charges, Ismayilova was conveniently charged with illicit entrepreneurship, tax evasion and power abuse as well, and is now facing 12 years in prison.
And these are just a few examples out of many, showing an Azerbaijan that the authorities wouldn't like to show to the world, but one that they apparently want to shape up - a country without freedom of speech, without criticism of power abuse and law violation, with no transparency and accountability.
The European Games could have been used by the government to show to its own citizens and the rest of the world that it is prepared and willing to respect human rights and liberties. Instead, it has turned the protection and advocacy of those rights into a crime.
A week ago, three key international figures urged Azerbaijan to free the arrested activists before the start of the European Games. The initiative was started by the Human Rights Commissioner of the European Council, Niels Muiznieks, the Special UN Rapporteur, Michael Grost, and the OSCE Freedom of the Media representative, Dunja Mijatovic. The three urged the participating European athletes to do the same.
Sadly, the response was more than clear. A few days before the opening of the Games, Azerbaijan refused to let the Amnesty International delegation into the country, and also banned the journalists from The Guardian and other representatives of major international media from attending the Games.
No doubt, the government will continue to be very busy in the future. Formula 1 will have a race from its 2016 calendar there, and the new UEFA European Cup system that aims to spread the event into a more diverse set of host cities across the continent, will grant Azerbaijan 4 football matches in 2020. Plus, Azerbaijan is running two simultaneous bids to host future Olympic Games. Given the huge number of big international events that Azerbaijan is aiming to use for crafting a prestigious international image for itself, there is apparently no time left for discussing the subject of tolerance and pluralism at home. But the European leaders may be able to make an impact - if they wanted to. After all, it is never too late for them to show some guts and take a firm stance, and send a clear message to Azerbaijan that Europe would not tolerate political repression. Or maybe it is?
(no subject)
Date: 17/6/15 17:44 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17/6/15 20:05 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17/6/15 20:34 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17/6/15 18:34 (UTC)Am I wrong? Since when is Transcaucasia, specifically Azerbaijan, not a part of Asia?
Am I the only one? I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!!
(no subject)
Date: 17/6/15 20:05 (UTC)Israel is allowed to compete in most European sports tournaments, I wonder why that is?
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 02:00 (UTC)I concede that they have politically aligned themselves with Europe of late but when I was in 6th grade and Mr Deihl had us "draw the boundary between Asia and Europe," my crayon put Armenia Azerbaijan and Georgia, like Anatolia, resolutely on the Asian side of the Crayola line. That learning dies hard.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 06:50 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 19:43 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 20:40 (UTC)Why are we discussing this, again?
(no subject)
Date: 19/6/15 02:46 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 19/6/15 05:24 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17/6/15 20:36 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 01:54 (UTC)I think this is a much more contestable claim than you are implying. The vague border between Europe and Asia has always been debatable, but in the modern era it also almost always ran the southern border along the spine of the Caucuses. While I am happy to concede that a country may, Caitlin Jenner-like, claim that they are whatever continental designation they identify with, and of course I am happy to admit that the EU can allow whatever country it wants to claim membership in a greater Europa, nevertheless, it seem clear that Azerbaijan,, as a matter of history, geography, population and culture, is much more Western Asian than it is European. No less a body than the UN Statistics Division puts the Transcaucus states into Western Asia. Even the Council of Europe admits that, strictlyspeaking, the three South Caucasus States, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are located in Asia, yet their membership (in) political Europe is no longer in doubt. I would say that, given the events of 2004 and more recently the growing power of Iran, the membership of these states is very much in doubt.
But let's not quibble.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 06:16 (UTC)Cyprus is also technically not in Europe, but it *is* Europe in every other aspect save the "technical" one.
And good question about Israel. Again, why is Israel part of Europe in almost every sports event? FIFA World Cup qualifications, UEFA European Cup qualifications, you name it.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 14:40 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 14:52 (UTC)My guess is, they didn't want to place Israel in a qualification zone where they'd potentially be meeting a number of hostile countries on a regular basis, which could result in a lot of trouble both on and off the field.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 19:06 (UTC)I think it has something to do with Israel having been part of the British Mandate, but you're correct, a lot of the early settlers came from Europe, they considered themselves sort of colonists from Europe and they identified themselves as European.
Israel is also member of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).
In the UN, Israel is a member of the Western European and Others Group.
It is also a member of Horizon 2020 (The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation) and of many other EU programs.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 19:40 (UTC)Because the other nations region where they are refuse to play with them? If they didn't participate with the EU they wouldn't participate in international competition at all? It certainly isn't because of geography.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 20:41 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 21:41 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 19/6/15 05:26 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 07:27 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 19:33 (UTC)Sports, at the international level, is all about money. Therefore, the only surprising thing about the dirty politics behind things like FIFA and this new EU games is that they are at all surprising.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/15 20:43 (UTC)There is no such thing as "EU games".
(no subject)
Date: 17/6/15 20:20 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17/6/15 20:25 (UTC)Please. Do they take us for imbeciles?
(no subject)
Date: 17/6/15 20:31 (UTC)