113th CONGRESS

1st Session 

Printed for the use of the 

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe 

TROUBLED PARTNER: GROWING 

AUTHORITARIANISM IN 

AZERBAIJAN 

JULY 16, 2013 

Briefing of the 

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe 

Washington: 2015 


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Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe 

234 Ford House Office Building 

Washington, DC 20515 

202–225–1901 

csce@mail.house.gov 

http://www.csce.gov 

Legislative Branch Commissioners 

SENATE HOUSE 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, MARYLAND, 

Chairman 

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, RHODE ISLAND

TOM UDALL, NEW MEXICO

JEANNE SHAHEEN, NEW HAMPSHIRE

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, CONNECTICUT

ROGER WICKER, MISSISSIPPI

SAXBY CHAMBLISS, GEORGIA

JOHN BOOZMAN, ARKANSAS

CHRISTOPHER SMITH, NEW JERSEY, 

Co-Chairman 

JOSEPH PITTS, PENNSYLVANIA

ROBERT ADERHOLT, ALABAMA

PHIL GINGREY, GEORGIA

MICHAEL BURGESS, TEXAS

ALCEE HASTINGS, FLORIDA

LOUISE MCINTOSH SLAUGHTER, 

NEW YORK

MIKE MCINTYRE, NORTH CAROLINA

STEVE COHEN, TENNESSEE

(II)


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ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

The Helsinki process, formally titled the Conference on Security and Cooperation in 

Europe, traces its origin to the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in Finland on August 

1, 1975, by the leaders of 33 European countries, the United States and Canada. As of 

January 1, 1995, the Helsinki process was renamed the Organization for Security and 

Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The membership of the OSCE has expanded to 56 participating States, reflecting the breakup of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. 

The OSCE Secretariat is in Vienna, Austria, where weekly meetings of the participating States’ permanent representatives are held. In addition, specialized seminars and 

meetings are convened in various locations. Periodic consultations are held among Senior 

Officials, Ministers and Heads of State or Government. 

Although the OSCE continues to engage in standard setting in the fields of military 

security, economic and environmental cooperation, and human rights and humanitarian 

concerns, the Organization is primarily focused on initiatives designed to prevent, manage 

and resolve conflict within and among the participating States. The Organization deploys 

numerous missions and field activities located in Southeastern and Eastern Europe, the 

Caucasus, and Central Asia. The website of the OSCE is: <www.osce.org>. 

ABOUT THE COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE 

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki 

Commission, is a U.S. Government agency created in 1976 to monitor and encourage 

compliance by the participating States with their OSCE commitments, with a particular 

emphasis on human rights. 

The Commission consists of nine members from the United States Senate, nine members from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments 

of State, Defense and Commerce. The positions of Chair and Co-Chair rotate between 

the Senate and House every two years, when a new Congress convenes. A professional 

staff assists the Commissioners in their work. 

In fulfilling its mandate, the Commission gathers and disseminates relevant information to the U.S. Congress and the public by convening hearings, issuing reports that 

reflect the views of Members of the Commission and/or its staff, and providing details 

about the activities of the Helsinki process and developments in OSCE participating 

States. 

The Commission also contributes to the formulation and execution of U.S. policy 

regarding the OSCE, including through Member and staff participation on U.S. Delegations to OSCE meetings. Members of the Commission have regular contact with 

parliamentarians, government officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and private individuals from participating States. The website of the Commission 

is: <www.csce.gov>. 

(III)


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TROUBLED PARTNER: GROWING AUTHORITARIANISM IN 

AZERBAIJAN 

—————— 

JULY 16, 2013 

WITNESSES 

Page 

Thomas Melia, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, U.S. Department of State ......... 3 

H.E. Elin Suleymanov. Ambassador, Republic of Azerbaijan ................................................... 6 

Eldar Namazov, Leader of the ‘‘EL’’ Movement, National Council of Democratic Forces in 

Azerbaijan .................................................................................................................................. 9 

Samad Seyidov, Dsc, MP .............................................................................................................. 11 

Erkin Gadirli, Chairman of the Assembly, Republican Alternative (ReAl) ............................. 13 

Mariam Lanskoy, Director, Russia and Eurasia, National Endowment for Democracy ........ 15 

PARTICIPANTS 

Shelly Han, Senior Advisor, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe ................ 1 

Paul Carter, Senior State Department Adviser, Commission on Security and Cooperation 

in Europe ................................................................................................................................... 1 

(IV)


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(1) 

TROUBLED PARTNER: GROWING AUTHORITARIANISM IN 

AZERBAIJAN 

—————— 

July 16, 2013 

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe 

Washington, DC 

The briefing was held from 2:01 to 4:19 p.m. EDT in Capitol Visitor Center, Senate 

Room 201–00, Washington D.C., Shelly Han, Senior Adviser, CSCE, presiding. 

Ms. HAN. Good afternoon. I’d like to welcome you to a briefing of the Commission 

on Security and Cooperation in Europe on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan. We’re 

very pleased to have an illustrious and large panel to discuss this issue. 

Both Azerbaijan and the United States are participating states in the OSCE. I’m 

getting some feedback. As such have agreed to the principle that comprehensive security 

and stability requires not only physical security and economic development but respect 

for human rights as well. 

We have six speakers today. I’d like to remind them to keep their statements succinct 

as we want to have time, after all the speakers have finished, for questions. We will invite 

the audience to ask questions as well. And we have distributed bios for each of the speakers. I’ll refer you to those instead of reading them out loud before each speaker. 

Before we start with our witnesses, I’d like to turn to the commission’s senior State 

Department adviser, Dr. Paul Carter, who’s going to provide a few remarks to help frame 

our discussion for today. 

Paul. 

Mr. CARTER. Thank you, Shelly, for the introduction. As Shelly mentioned, I would 

like to take just a few minutes to provide some context and frame today’s discussion. 

I note at the outset that my remarks are not an official statement of State Department 

policy, but are offered instead in my capacity as senior adviser to the Helsinki Commission. 

The United States is a friend of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani people. We regard 

the government of Azerbaijan as a partner with whom we share many interests and cooperate on many issues. Azerbaijan is located in the strategically important Caucuses 

region, borders Russia and Iran, and is a key gateway along the new Silk Road to Central 

Asia and Afghanistan. 


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Azerbaijan established its economic independence soon after the collapse of the Soviet 

Union and now plays an important role in efforts to supply Europe with alternative 

sources of energy. 

The government has supplied contingents of troops to work with us in Kosovo, Iraq, 

and Afghanistan. The country is a significant transit corridor for the United States to 

Afghanistan. 

The United States has worked closely with Azerbaijan, as well as Armenia, through 

the OSCE Minsk Group to find a positive, forward-looking solution to the NagornoKarabakh issue. The government of Azerbaijan has taken a positive approach to significant international issues, including maintaining good relations with Israel and respecting 

sanctions against Iran. 

These common interests and approaches have fostered good relations between the 

United States and the government of Azerbaijan and have received much attention in 

Washington and Baku. 

But we are not here today to discuss energy, regional security or Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Our purpose today is to discuss a set of issues that has received less attention but is 

no less significant. These issues concern the many reports of the Azerbaijani government’s 

decline in respect for democratic values and growing authoritarianism. 

Reported trends include: intimidation, arrests and use of force against journalists 

and human rights activists; tough new NGO registration requirements; legal restrictions 

on the Internet, including criminalizing online liable and abuse; restrictions on freedom 

of assembly, forceful dispersion of unsanctioned protests, and detention of demonstrators; 

unfair administration of justice, including arbitrary arrests and detention; politically motivated imprisonment, lack of due process, lengthy pre-trial detention and executive interference in the judiciary; the jailing of religious believers; the closing, in April, of the Free 

Thought University; and, since April 28th, the jamming of Radio Liberty-Radio Free Europe broadcasts. 

Azerbaijan will hold a presidential election in October of this year. The OSCE election 

observation mission’s reports on previous elections in Azerbaijan found that those elections failed to meet OSCE and other international standards in significant ways. 

We are concerned, given the current apparent decline in respect for democratic values 

in Azerbaijan, that the prospects for a free and fair presidential election have not improved and, indeed, may have significantly declined. In this regard, I note as well that 

the government of Azerbaijan still has not issued an invitation to the OSCE to send long 

and short-term observers to the October election. 

We have a distinguished panel of Azerbaijani and American officials, politicians and 

experts to provide more information on these issues and help us to understand their significance. 

While some of our panelists currently are active on the Azerbaijan political scene, 

I would like to stress that the Helsinki Commission does not take sides in the upcoming 

presidential election. Our only interest is in supporting a free and fair campaign and election as well as a greater respect for human rights and democratic values. 

With that, I would like to return the floor to Shelly, who will introduce our first 

witness. 


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Ms. HAN. Thanks, Paul. Now, I’d like to turn to Thomas Melia, who’s the deputy 

assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. 

You have the floor. 

Mr. MELIA. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Han and Dr. Carter and all of the commission 

members and staff for inviting me here to brief about the situation in Azerbaijan and 

its implications for the October presidential election. 

Azerbaijan is, as Dr. Carter summarized so well, an important partner for the United 

States. It plays a significant role in advancing energy security for our friends and allies, 

and provides vital support as a transportation hub for the international security mission 

in Afghanistan. 

Thus, it is timely and important for us to take a sober look at recent Azerbaijani 

government actions, which raise concerns in advance of the October presidential election, 

and about democratic and civil society development more broadly. 

As a friend of Azerbaijan, the United States supports the country’s long-term stability 

in a tough neighborhood. In this connection, I want to share some of the concerns that 

we in Washington and our colleagues at our embassy in Baku have discussed with senior 

Azerbaijani government officials in recent months. 

We have seen some positive efforts by the government in certain important areas 

affecting human rights situation, such as in combating human trafficking and battling 

against domestic violence, as well as an impressive new ASAN, administration services 

center, in Baku that’s intended to decrease petty corruption. 

Unfortunately, the political environment for human rights and fundamental freedoms 

more broadly has worsened since at least last November, when the Milli Mejlis passed 

amendments significantly increasing fines on participants and organizers of unauthorized 

protests. 

Then, this year alone, restrictive actions have included an increase in the number 

of detained peaceful democracy activists, use of water cannons to disperse a peaceful protest in Baku, legislation further restricting NGO financing, criminal code amendments 

that extend penalties for defamation and insults to online content, and the closure of the 

facility of the Free Thought University, a non-partisan forum established by young activists to develop critical analytical skills and independent thinking, which the U.S. government has been proud to support in its formative months and for the first couple of years. 

And there’s been pressure on independent defense lawyers, resulting in a decreasing number of such lawyers prepared to defend individuals charged in sensitive political cases. 

U.S. officials consistently highlight the importance of greater respect for human 

rights and fundamental freedoms with Azerbaijani government officials at all levels in 

Baku and Washington. We also raise our concerns at OSCE fora, such as the weekly permanent council meetings in Vienna, most recently on July 4th. 

To amplify U.S. government concerns, I have traveled to Azerbaijan three times since 

taking my current position in DRL. I was there in June 2011, last December, and in April 

of this year. 

While in Azerbaijan, I’ve met with government officials at the highest levels, as well 

as democratic reform advocates, such as political party and civil society leaders, independent journalists and defense lawyers. 


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In the most recent visit, in April, to demonstrate solidarity with families of incarcerated democracy activists, I also met with Vafa Mammadova, the wife of ReAl presidential 

candidate Ilgar Mammadov, who has been in pre-trial detention for more than five 

months. 

In my meetings, I have urged our partners, our counterparts in the government of 

Azerbaijan to respect universally recognized freedoms such as freedom of expression, assembly, and association, and not to penalize individuals for attempting to exercise these 

freedoms. I also have emphasized the importance of fostering an environment conducive 

to pluralism among civil society organizations, political parties and media outlets as a 

foundation of true long-term stability. 

While in Baku in mid-April, and inter-agency delegation that I co-led with USAID 

Assistant Administration Paige Alexander, we conveyed these messages to senior government officials and non-government leaders. In addition to the Department of State and 

USAID, the Department of Justice also participated in our inter-agency delegation to convey our strong support for strengthening the rule of law. 

In April, I urged Azerbaijani authorities to take four concrete steps to enhance political stability during this important election year. 

First, to investigate what appeared to be credible reports of harassment of lawyers 

defending journalists and activists, with an eye towards ending interference in the work 

of lawyers who play a pivotal role in establishing the rule of law in modern societies. 

Second, to immediately release arrested democracy activists, such as Ilgar 

Mammadov—the European Parliament called in a resolution adopted on June 13th for 

his immediate and unconditional release, and we echo that, as well as others who have 

been incarcerated for having exercised their fundamental freedoms. 

Third, to engage in a real dialogue with Azerbaijani civil society, including those such 

as Free Thought University and other nongovernmental, nonprofit organizations that are 

trying to advance civic culture and democratic principles, as well with international organizations that are present in Azerbaijan to support the country’s democratic development. 

An important part of this broader dialogue would be to facilitate the timely registration 

of those NGOs that have sought to register with the appropriate authorities. 

Fourth, to create conditions that would be conducive to open public debate and the 

unhindered functioning of political parties during this election year. As I said in public 

and in private in April, in Baku, is it up to Azerbaijanis to decide on the future of political 

developments in their country. The interest of the United States is solely in assuring that 

these decisions are reached through democratic, transparent processes and institutions. 

The Azerbaijani people will have a choice of leadership in the presidential election 

this coming October. The government of Azerbaijan has an opportunity now to take bold 

steps to improve the political environment and to begin establishing the conditions that 

are necessary for a more open, competitive, fair and democratic electoral process, a process 

that doesn’t take place just on election day but throughout these next several months. 

Let me emphasize here the importance of three freedoms that are fundamental to 

democratic electoral processes and that are also discussed in the OSCE ODHIR’s July 

12th needs assessment mission report. 

First is freedom of association. We will look for unhindered candidate registration, 

election campaigns and access to the media. Azerbaijanis should be able to join the nonVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Sep 01, 2015 Jkt 095489 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 3191 Sfmt 3191 E:\HR\OC\A489.XXX A489

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governmental organization, political party or political movement of their choice without 

fear of detention or other punitive measures. 

Second, freedom of expression—we will look for an environment conducive to an open 

public dialogue and freedom of the media. Azerbaijanis should be able to peacefully express their views, and receive and impart information and ideas without fear of detention 

or other obstacles. Similarly, journalists and media outlets should be able to do their work 

without fear of beatings, imprisonment, threats, loss of employment or other interference 

in the dissemination of their work. 

Third, and finally, freedom of assembly—we will look for respect for freedom of peaceful assembly, including unhindered meetings between candidates and voters, and rallies 

that are accessible by public transportation without the risk of detention. 

We urge the government of Azerbaijan to conduct a free and fair electoral process 

as observed by both domestic and international monitors. We will look for the ability of 

domestic monitors to organize, gain access to the electoral process and to report their 

observations. 

Timely registration of the Election Monitoring and Democracy Study center, EMDS, 

one of the country’s leading independent election monitoring organizations would be another positive step. And we welcome Foreign Minister Mammadyarov’s statement that 

Azerbaijan intends to invite ODIHR and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to monitor 

the October election. We’re pleased that ODIHR conducted a needs assessment mission 

in June. And we urge the government to issue the requisite formal invitations soon. 

Finally, I want to highlight a statement made yesterday by Ambassador Morningstar, 

who said that, quote now, ‘‘During this election year, it is particularly important for the 

Azerbaijani government to help guarantee the free flow of information to its people.’’ In 

this connection, I urge the government to expeditiously investigate the problems recently 

encountered by RFERL and other Azerbaijani language media outlets in broadcasting 

some of their satellite programming to Azerbaijanis. 

In closing, I would like to stress that the United States engages in human rights 

and democracy promotion with Azerbaijan as a friend and partner. Here, I would like 

to cite an Azerbaijani saying, which I’m doing with some trepidation: (In Azerbaijani)— 

which I’m told by my experts means a friend with speak with no curtain or veil. Is that 

a reasonable translation? It’s just not a reasonable pronunciation probably. I should learn 

some more? All right. I’ll learn more by the next hearing. 

In my numerous meetings with Azerbaijanis, I’ve heard directly that enhanced respect for universal human rights and fundamental freedoms, rule of law and clear steps 

toward liberalization and democracy, including a democratic electoral process are reforms 

that Azerbaijanis widely seek. Such reforms would also strengthen our bilateral relationship. Our strongest and most durable relationships around the world are with democracies 

that respect human rights in addition to sharing other interests with us. 

Thank you for your attention. I look forward to the remainder of the discussion. 

Ms. HAN. Thank you, Mr. Melia. I appreciate that. 

Now we’re going to switch seats and we’ll invite the Ambassador Suleymanov to join 

us and to give your statement. We really appreciate that the ambassador is participating 

today. I think it’s important to have a full range of voices on this issue and we appreciate 

his participation. 


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Mr. SULEYMANOV. Thank you. 

Ms. HAN. Mr. Ambassador, you have the floor. 

Mr. SULEYMANOV. Thank you very much. Mr. Carter, Ms. Han, thank you very much 

for the opportunity to speak before the U.S. commission, Helsinki Commission, and by 

monitoring the human rights and comprehensive security, you have done a great job. We 

appreciate your commitment. Thank you very much. I have submitted a comprehensive 

version of my remarks and I will make just major points so you could see. 

The partnership between the United States and Azerbaijan is important to each of 

our countries. It’s based on common values and common interests, in energy, regional 

security, and a variety of issues. I understand, as Mr. Carter pointed out, shoulder to 

shoulder in Iraq—and we were in Iraq and Kosovo, now we stand in the Balkans. 

But modern reforms have always been an important part of our dialogue. In fact, 

Azerbaijan today is the only country in the South Caucuses which co-finances the civil 

society promotion projects, 50 percent co-financed with USAID jointly. We always appreciate friendly and helpful advice from our friends. 

I take Mr. Carter’s statement that today’s briefing is a reflection of our friendly and 

strategic partnership and that’s why you have a briefing on Azerbaijan, not on other countries which had elections recently. That’s why I’m here representing my government, as 

a reflection of our partnership with you as well. 

I also take at face value your statement that you do not take sides in Azerbaijani 

political system and debate. I look forward to maintaining an objective view, which we 

hope will be maintained throughout this discussion. I’m yet to see the full confirmation 

of that. 

I also am talking among friends, as our good friend, Mr. Melia has said, in Azerbaijani. You don’t want me to speak without any veil with my American friends. I could 

go a little bit too critical, you know that. I will not do that. However, I will also speak 

as a state talk among friends. 

I respectfully reject the wrongful claim about going to authoritarianism in Azerbaijan. 

We do not accept that. In fact, make no mistake. What is going on in Azerbaijan is a 

truly independent nation with a vibrant political system and a free market economy. What 

is going on is a secular government with diverse and inclusive society, where members 

of every faith can live together with dignity and mutual respect. What is going on is prosperity and economic opportunities for all our citizens, and I think that should be recognized here today. 

Azerbaijan is an ancient civilization but a young democracy in a tough neighborhood. 

That was mentioned here as well. Just like every nation on earth, we are not perfect. 

Consider the obstacles we must overcome. Our country has been independent for 22 

years since ending of the communist rule for seven decades. Now, we suffer from the Armenian occupation of almost 1 percent—one-fifth of our international recognized territory 

and displacement of about one million people from their homes. 

Since restoring independence, Azerbaijan has been building a free, democratic society, 

where everyone living on our soil can equally and fully enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms regardless of their racial, religious and ethnic background. 

Now, I want to make this point very importantly. We believe that tolerance, inclusiveness and diversity and gender rights are fundamental pillars of a democratic system. 


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They’re often overlooked, easily dismissed. We often go to the procedural issues, and say, 

OK. This, Azeris got that, that’s OK. We don’t need to talk about it. But that is what 

forms democracy and that’s where democracy fails is exactly what we don’t have sufficient 

respect for tolerance, inclusiveness and diversity and I think that’s a fundamental point 

I want to make. Azerbaijan is very proud of its—In that, I think Azerbaijan can actually 

be an example for many on how to be an inclusive society, tolerant and respectful of all 

its citizens, regardless of their background and ethnicity. 

We still have to do a lot of work to eliminate the vestiges of the Soviet mentality, 

to address our challenges, among them fighting corruption and building democratic institutions. That’s obvious. But our progress is remarkable. It is especially remarkable if you 

look at the neighborhood we live. I mean, that’s an important factor. 

Now, before I go any further, I want to talk about the elephant in the room. We 

could try to dismiss it. We could not mention it. But the major and the greatest and the 

gravest challenge facing the citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the ongoing occupation, forceful displacement of one million of my people. We could talk about all the rights 

of our people. We could talk about all we want, but we cannot ignore the fact that one 

million of Azerbaijanis—children, women and men—have been living outside their homes, 

forcefully displaced, having no rights for reproductive health, gender, voting, health care, 

and education. I think that’s very important. 

In that spirit, I am actually somewhat surprised by the bizarre move by our colleagues from the Armenian Assembly of America who decided to submit their testimony 

here. 

First of all, I thought it was a discussion on Azerbaijan. I haven’t seen that testimony, 

but I believe that it addresses three very important issues. I hope it addresses the fact 

that the Armenian government today grossly violates the rights of Azerbaijani displaced 

people. I hope they submitted it because there was no event on Armenian elections, which 

are very problematic, and it addresses the fact that presidential candidates get shot in 

Armenia before the elections. Since you didn’t have the event on that, I hope our Armenian 

friends actually mentioned that in their own submission. 

I do hope that they express concern with their government’s treatment of Moldovan 

human rights commissioner Mrs. Aurelia Grigoriu, who was kidnapped and held hostage 

in the Republic of Armenia by the government of Armenia. I hope those things are outlined 

in that particular statement. I think that’s a welcome one. If it is aimed at bashing Azerbaijan, then I would take an issue with Mr. Carter’s statement about objectivity of this 

event today. 

In three months, the citizens of Azerbaijan will exercise their constitutional and civic 

right to elect the president of the republic to lead the nation over the next five years. 

We will do everything possible to hold democratic elections that the Azerbaijani people 

deserve and expect because the future of independent Azerbaijan is and should be decided 

and determined only by our citizens living in Azerbaijan, not in foreign capitals, not in 

neighboring capitals. That’s a very important point. 

For those Azerbaijani citizens who are living abroad, our diplomatic missions, including one which I lead, will be open and providing an opportunity to vote. And I encourage 

everybody to register with our consulate and exercise their right and civic duty to vote 

for the president of the Republican of Azerbaijan once the election campaign begins. 


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Since adopting our constitution in 1995, Azerbaijan has been creating the mechanism 

to protect human rights, extensive democracy and ensure rule of law. We benefit from 

our ever expanding participation in the European community and strong support from 

the United States and other members of the worldwide community of democratic societies. 

We joined the Council of Europe in 2001. It’s an important step. By 2014, Azerbaijan 

will assume for the first time the chairmanship of the Committee of the Ministers Council 

of Europe. 

To our national program to raise awareness of the protection of human rights, we’re 

building institutions that gives life to a free society. There are five issues on that, five 

building blocks for democracy. 

For our democracy, first, a fully functioning, independent judiciary is not a choice 

but a prerogative. It’s an imperative. In the very short term of time, the national judiciary 

and legal system has been organized subject to democratic principles. We are working 

very hard and include the World Bank and other international institutions to build a 

depoliticized judicial system which is independent of any interference. 

Second, freedom of expression, which is the lifeblood of democracy. In Azerbaijan 

today, there are about 5,000 media outlets affiliated to a wide range of private organizations and individuals. Some of them are here. There are about 40 daily and 200 weekly 

and monthly newspapers. There are 50 information agencies. 

Our state fund for support of mass media supports newspapers and other outlets, 

including opposition papers without interfering with their content. In 2010, under the 

program initiated by President Muhavaliv, around $6.4 million have been allocated to 

strengthening the social protection for journalists, including housing assistance. 

President’s fund for support of media actually allocates money to the very media 

which spends most of the time criticizing the government. We have a fund which does 

not interfere with the work of journalists. 

Freedom of expression includes freedom of Internet. In Azerbaijan, there’s absolutely 

unrestricted Internet access. About 65 percent of the Azerbaijani population have access 

to Internet. We will increase that number. We’re working very hard and we appreciate 

the help from our American friends on working with us to make it about 100 percent 

connectivity. Of course, that is an ambitious goal and we’ll try to as much. 

Still, democracy requests a vibrant civil society. Within the last five years, the council 

of state support to NGOs has allocated more than $14 million to 1,800 projects. Azerbaijan 

is a lively—and the political discourse is very diverse with many voices, including the 

opposition, and much of that support also goes to the opposition groups. 

Fourth, a strong democracy required educated citizens. Our top priority is developing 

our human capital. What happens is Azerbaijan is launching additional reforms in education. I think everybody who watches Azerbaijan closely knows that. And we will also 

provide full government support for our students studying abroad, about 5,000 Azerbaijani 

students studying abroad in leading institutions internationally. 

Fifth, and I think this is the most visible and the most—not a civil progress been 

in combating corruption. I appreciate Mr. Melia mentioning the ASAN service, which has 

basically revolutionized and opened access of Azerbaijani citizens to their government 

services. 


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We’re fighting corruption. In fact, one of the interesting things you would look at 

is that Transparency International, with which we often disagree and which is mostly 

very critical of many governments around the world, has noticed an increase of corruption 

instances throughout the world and decrease of such in Azerbaijan. I think that recognition should be mentioned here as well. 

Prosperity of the Azerbaijani people is increasing. Azerbaijan today accounts for 80 

percent, 80 percent of South Caucuses economy. And, you know, the poverty level has 

came down from 49 percent to 6 percent. We are facing a population whose welfare is 

increasing on a regular basis. 

Once again, before I complete my words, I would like to point out that the greatest 

support the United States government can do to for our people is to help us, us and Armenians to come at the end of the day to a solution and a fair settlement of the ArmeniaAzerbaijan conflict so finally our people have the ability to fully enjoy the rights, which 

are very basic rights. We’re not talking about freedom of assembly even. We’re talking 

rights to live and rights to basically enjoy their lives as human beings in dignity. 

With that, I think the one very important step would be, very obviously, to encourage 

the United States to appoint a full-time negotiator, which is the United States is lacking. 

And while I appreciate the statements made by the U.S. government at the OSCE Council 

in Vienna, I would be also very appreciative if equal attention would be paid to the mistreatment of Azerbaijani citizens and made an effort to resolve the Armenia-Azerbaijan 

conflict. 

In closing, let me welcome all the representatives of Azerbaijan who are here, both 

from the government and from the opposition. You could see that we have a vibrant society. You read about the activities of our different political groups from the media, which 

is actually freely accessible to you. Our people have events, which are held without much 

interference. And we appreciate American support to Azerbaijan in general and our working together with Americans on promoting democracy and reforms in our part of the world. 

We appreciate your support and thank you for your attention. And I will be remaining 

here for the remainder of the discussion. Thank you very much. 

Ms. HAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Ambassador. I appreciate your remarks. We 

do look forward to have you back up on the panel after this next panel. 

If I could invite Mr. Namazov, Mr. Gadirli, Dr. Lanskoy, and Mr. Seyidov. Yeah. 

Thank you. 

OK. We’d like to start with Mr. Namazov, if you could start off the panel. And he’ll 

be using our interpreter to make his statement. Thank you. 

Mr. NAMAZOV. Thank you for inviting me to this event. I represent here the National 

Council of Democratic Forces in Azerbaijan and I speak on their behalf. I have travelled 

6,000 miles here to speak about the realities of Azerbaijan, which makes less than one 

minute for a mile. Yeah. For one mile. Yeah. Less than one minute for a mile. 

I encourage you to look into the documents that I’m going to distribute. These are 

the statements from our council and information we’d like to disperse. For the first time 

since Azerbaijan regained its independence, leading Azerbaijani political party leaders and 

delegates here, representatives of civil society, media captains, youth have united together 

in the eve of presidential elections creating the national council and they have agreed 

to go to this election with a single candidate. 


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Our council has prepared a special declaration, a paper discussing the next two years 

that will happen if we win the elections, that discusses the major reforms, legal and democratic reforms that will take during the two years. 

Another document that we have adopted and it will be also distributed to you is our 

request or is our petition to law enforcement agencies in Azerbaijan that discusses the 

situation of the president that foreign media has written about, about allegations about 

various properties around the world that are significant corruption cases that we want 

to be investigated. These are serious facts that we have asked the central election commission, public prosecutor’s office, Supreme Court to investigate because these are important 

allegations that need to be investigated, which are about the president. We will try to 

get concrete responses from these institutions why they have not done anything so far 

to start those investigations. 

Another important document that I will distribute today is a letter written from jail. 

This is a letter written by arrested members of NIDA youth movement who are in jail 

now. And just yesterday, two more members of the youth groups, Ulvi Hasanli and 

Megedli have been arrested while they were helping us to prepare documents for here. 

Out of 129 member of the national council, 12 are in jail now. And, of course, we 

demand the release of all political prisoners. The names were mentioned today, Ilgar 

Mammadov, Yadigar Sadiqov, and others who are in jail now should all be released. 

The spread of corruption and lack of social justice leads to the situation when without 

intervention of political parties in Azerbaijan, people in rural areas, in districts rise 

against the corrupt officials. 

All this social crisis in Azerbaijan and political-social crisis shows that Azerbaijan 

needs to have reforms, needs to have significant changes. If democratic elections are not 

held in Azerbaijan, chaos and confrontations wait Azerbaijan, which will significantly 

damage its relationship with partners and with its neighbors. 

At the end of my presentation, I would like to pass to you three important messages 

of our national council to you. 

First is to exert appropriate pressure on Azerbaijani government officials who have 

violated freedom of rights similar to that of the Magnitsky Act. To liberalize pre-election 

situation, all political prisoners should be released, the right of freedom, right of assembly, 

freedom of expression have to be restored. And there should be no pressure on independent media and their outlets. The electoral legislation has to be reformed based on 

recommendations from ODIHR and OSCE and Venice Commission, Council of Europe. 

We want the provision by independent institute, provision of exit polls in Azerbaijan 

from independent institutions because all previous elections in Azerbaijan have been falsified and they did not meet international standards. The democratic elections need to 

be born in Azerbaijan. They’re not only an issue related to the people of Azerbaijan but 

also to the security and stability of Azerbaijan. 

I hope our American partners understand the same way as we do that to transition 

to a democratic government is necessary. Thank you so much. 

Ms. HAN. Thank very much, Mr. Namazov. I appreciate that. I think you got more 

miles out of that statement than you originally planned. 

Dr. Seyidov, we welcome your participation. 


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Mr. SEYIDOV. Thank you very much for having me today. I think that this is really 

very important to take part in this briefing and to discuss issues which are related to 

my country. 

Of course, my ambassador made my life so easy. He actually presented facts which 

I thought to present. And that’s why I will try to cover much more with the situation 

with human rights, with the geopolitical situation in Azerbaijan. 

Let me start with my disagreement with Mr. Carter’s statement that today we are 

here and today we are not going to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, and we are thinking only about human rights and we should think about human rights. 

Nagorno-Karabakh is a problem of human rights. That’s a great violation of the 

human rights of Azerbaijanis. One million approximately Azerbaijanis have been violated 

and ethnically cleansed from Azerbaijan. And to think and discuss a human rights issue 

in the Azerbaijani region without the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, that’s impossible. We 

should take into account this reality. 

The second remark, my disagreement with the title of today’s briefing, troubled partner—‘‘Troubled partners and growing authoritarianism in Azerbaijan.’’ Trouble partner, 

how can it be possible? We as a state, as Azerbaijan, opened all our facilities for America 

exactly after 9/11. We’re today doing our best for the coalition and our soldiers shoulder 

to shoulder fighting in Afghanistan, in Iraq and Kosovo, as you said. We are doing our 

best not only for our country, for the region, but for Europe and the United States of 

America. 

That’s why I think that you lost the focus. The real troubled partner is not far from 

us, the country which created the occupation of my land, the country which ethnically 

cleansed 20 percent of my territory, a country where the real human rights is really dangerous. 

My second remark is about growing authoritarianism in Azerbaijan. You know, Mr. 

Namazov just said that today we can see in Azerbaijan that democratic forces try to unite 

and this is very good and unique opportunity to see in Azerbaijan, but who created this 

environment. When our foreign visitors, guests came to Azerbaijan, already you have mentioned that your opposition is very fragile. Your opposition is really very weak. Today, 

opposition is sitting together with us and talking about the future of Azerbaijan. Is it 

authoritarian regime? Or maybe we can say that just a few days ago the leading chief 

of the very, very radical oppositional newspaper became a member of the board which 

has been created by after the congress, journalist congress in Azerbaijan. And this is the 

real sign of democratization, not the sign of authoritarianism. 

Or maybe we should talk about the role of the woman in Azerbaijan. I can speak 

about other things and today, I think, my ambassador is absolutely right. What we can 

see in Azerbaijan, that’s a growing economy, growing our relationships with neighboring 

countries, and growing the role of Azerbaijan in our region. Maybe because of that and 

exactly because of that today we can see that pressure from different regions, from different countries are growing. Not authoritarianism is growing in Azerbaijan. I’m from 

parliament, I can’t say, but attempts to destabilize situation in Azerbaijan is growing. 

Today, Azerbaijan maybe is a last state in our region which defending Western values 

and cooperation with Europe and United States of America. We have seen what had happened to Georgia, to Ukraine, what kind of processes is going on in Russian Federation. 


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And I think today so strong pressure to Azerbaijan exactly because of our desire to be 

together with the rest of the democratic and civilized world. 

The president of Azerbaijan is a leader who is doing his best for integration with 

Europe and with the United States of America. And that’s why I’m so proud that today 

my government said yes to Trans-Anatolian pipeline, which bring closer Italy, Albania, 

Greece, Turkey, Georgia to Europe and to United States of America. 

Of course, we are not so perfect, but we are doing our best. We became a member 

of the Council of Europe, where 47 countries are existing. Next year, we will chair the 

Council of Europe. At the same time, we are very active in the Islamic Conference. We 

have the special attitudes concerning cooperation between East and West. From this point 

of view important to take into account that this kind of discussions, when opposition and 

people who are not agree with you can see express their views much more important 

than use Molotov cocktail against the government, against the forces in Azerbaijan. I ask 

my colleagues and friends to understand that democracy is a rule of law and human rights 

that’s a discussions, exchange of views, not use of force. 

Today, human rights is a very, very special issue for Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has 

joined to the European Charter of the Human Rights. We’re under jurisdiction of the European Court for Human Rights. You can compare the number of appeals from Azerbaijan 

and from countries who are member of the European Union: United Kingdom, Romania, 

Bulgaria, France, and other countries. And you can see that the number of appeals from 

Azerbaijan much more less than from these countries. 

You can compare the number of prisoners within the prisons in Azerbaijan, in Georgia, in France, in United Kingdom, and you will see that the number of prisoners within 

the prison in Azerbaijan, according the European standards, and especially taking into 

account the last pardoning decrees and amnesties which adopted by the parliament. 

You can see that day by day the number of women within the parliament and within 

the municipalities are growing. From this point of view, the last municipality elections 

and parliamentary elections gave us possibility to have approximately 20 percent members of the woman at the parliament and more than 30 percent women at the municipalities. 

Today, Azerbaijan is doing its best for human rights and for democracy, rule of law 

not only within the country, but taking in all programs, in all initiatives. My president 

just recently has signed the special action plan to improve human rights situation in Azerbaijan. 

As you know, we are coming to the chair position at the Council of Europe at the 

middle of the 2014. An action plan on the discussion together with Council of Europe 

concerning human rights development in Azerbaijan. That’s impossible to change everything overnight. Only 20 years, we are an independent country. 

United States of America 237 years is independent, but even in United States of 

America we can see some problematic issues. 

The most important thing, the political will of the country to change, to see, new 

developments, new reforms, and government of Azerbaijan is keen to provide these reforms. 


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We have sent an invitation to the Council of Europe to see observation mission for 

presidential elections here, this year, in October. 32 members from the Council of Europe 

will be in Azerbaijan for pre-election mission and for election mission. 

The same invitation will be sent from Azerbaijan to other international organizations. 

But what we don’t want to see and what we have seen during the last parliamentary 

elections and presidential elections in Azerbaijan, previously prepared opinion, previously 

prepared papers about the results of the elections in Azerbaijan, about the situation in 

Azerbaijan. 

Today, my country is struggle for democratization, human rights, and rule of law. 

The war, the struggle is going on. We, as Azerbaijani representatives, we are doing all 

our best being surrounding with very difficult neighbors. Could you imagine from one 

side so great, so big, so influential Russian Federation? From another side, fundamentalistic and fundamentalistic tensions and Iran. Twenty percent of territories under occupation. Situation in Georgia, which is not so understandable. Taking into account all these 

difficulties, Azerbaijani leadership is insisting to be together with the rest of the civilized 

world and to do its best. 

Thank you very much. 

Ms. HAN. Thank you very much for that. 

Next, I’d like to call on Mr. Gadirli, if you can. I’m sorry I’m not saying anybody’s 

title, so I apologize for that. You are the representative of the ReAl network. I’ll rely 

on you to explain your affiliation. Thanks. 

Mr. GADIRLI. Thank you very much. I also would like to express my personal gratitude for having been invited for such an event. 

I sincerely welcome our Azerbaijani friends, Mr. Ambassador. It’s very rare opportunity for us to sit together in our own country. I’m bit confused because I had another 

idea of what I’m going to say before coming here. Now, listening to the previous presentation, I’ve a bit changed my mind. 

I would like to start with a quote. The quote goes like this. ‘‘Do you know where 

Azerbaijan is? Well, today, they came in a group of very interesting and intelligent gentlemen who are coming from Azerbaijan. I couldn’t have time to find until they begun where 

they came from, but I find this out immediately, that I was talking to men who talk exactly the same language that I did in respect of ideas, in respect of conceptions of liberty, 

in respect of conceptions of justice and rights.’’ End of quote. 

These words belong to the president of the United States Woodrow Wilson. Actually 

wrote these words after meeting with Azerbaijani delegation to Paris Peace Conference 

in 1919. 

That was a time when Azerbaijan established its first republic. Was not only the 

first in Azerbaijani history, but in the history of entire Muslim world and the Turk people, 

in fact, the first republic in that geography. 

At that time, the population was very poor, illiterate, only 64 people held university 

degree. The war with Armenia over Karabakh was still ongoing. Azerbaijan was threatened by its neighbors, yet the people was capable of effectively establishing a republic 

without any foreign aid. 

The strategies then was to seek an international recognition of that republic. Now, 

today, we are independent and proudly so. Never in our history our society was as rich 


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as it is today. Our population is literate. The level of literacy is well above 90 percent. 

But there’re certain differences that I would like to talk about. 

When we had the first republic Azerbaijan was exporting ideas to some of its neighbors such as Persia, as it was then called, and Ottoman Empire, ideas out of which, among 

many other things, a Turkish Republic evolved. It was Azerbaijan from where ideas of 

Turkishness, pantropism, and republicanism went to Turkey, not the other way around. 

Now, today, we’re a country which jams radios, which bans opposition to appear on 

the television, which effectively shuns other sorts of media who have nationwide broadcast. Not only opposition, but different thinking intellectuals are not allowed to appear 

on television. 

When we had the republic, in the second decade of the 20th century, within two years 

that the republic was alive, the government changed four times. We have five governmental coalition. Well, to some this is a sign of political instability. Yes, there is some 

portion of truth in that. But it also signifies the culture of negotiation, coordination, and 

cooperation that Azerbaijan had at that time. 

Today, that is exactly what our society is like. Today, we have a society ruled by 

one family, effectively, since 1969, with a short break in the ’80s. When we had the first 

republic, we had a prime minister, who after his resignation wrote a letter to his father 

asking for a financial help because he was short of money after resignation. Today, we 

read from various sources reports about billions of wealth owned by ruling elite. 

Now, all that is possible today because we don’t have a republic. This is the strategy 

that—and the challenge that our nation is facing. I join and I don’t want just to reiterate, 

but I want to undersign what Mr. Ambassador and other—Samad Seyidov that said about 

the Karabakh issue. Our nation stands united, so there is no fundamental disagreement 

on that. 

There’re few disagreements about details, but in general—so that has nothing to do 

with being in opposition in Azerbaijan, even though we sometimes see it from the government side that opposition is either trying to destabilize the situation or sell out the country 

order. 

I represent here Republican Alternative. That it’s opposition movement. We are on 

the way to transforming our movement into a political party. The chairman of our board 

is in jail now. He was arrested on February 4, still kept in custody. The charges he’s 

facing with are quite serious. He made up in jail for another 12 years. But in fact, what 

he was arrested for? Exactly because he was advocating for republican ideals, because 

he was advocating for Euro-Atlantic integration, the deep integration, the true integration. 

The republicanism—I know that this word can confuse American audiences, but I’m 

speaking not in terms of political parties, but in terms of the trend, the form of the government—can be organized in various forms. When we had the first republic, the people then 

had a vision and knowledge and the courage and very difficult environment compared 

to which we have today, but even in a harder situation, to create a parliamentary form 

of government. They were aware of a presidential form. They knew that—the system in 

America, how it was organized. But they had a deeper vision about the future of the country. They somehow intuitively knew that presidential system wouldn’t fit our country. 

In fact, if you study, whoever tried to copy the American system of the government— 

take Latin America, post-Soviet countries, African countries, whoever tried to have a 

strong president as a head of executive failed in democracy building. 


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That fact is quite telling. So another challenge in front of us is to transform our 

country into a proper parliamentary republic which will reflect the diversity of the country, where political parties can cooperate, negotiate, establish coalitions. What we don’t 

have is a republic. We will pursue this goal. We will continue to follow our strategy because it is much more than simply changing the government. 

If you simply change the people, I mean the officials, that wouldn’t work. The deeper 

understanding is required. A country must be radically reformed and transformed. 

But anyway, I better stop here because I assume there will be questions and I will 

have more time on detail. Thank you. 

Ms. HAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Gadirli. 

Now, I’d like to turn to our final witness, Dr. Miriam Lanskoy. She’s the director 

for Russia and Eurasia at the National Endowment for Democracy. 

Ms. LANSKOY. I’m very grateful to the Helsinki Commission for holding this briefing 

and for giving me the opportunity to speak about democracy and human rights in Azerbaijan. 

The National Endowment for Democracy is a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated 

to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world. The NED 

has been working in Azerbaijan since the mid 1990s and has supported various projects 

there. 

Over the last decade, freedom in Azerbaijan has declined substantially. The Nations 

in Transit Index shows a deep decline in every category of governance and the combined 

score going from 5.6 to 6.6. President Ilham Aliyev, who came to power in 2003, is now 

seeking a third term as president. This was forbidden by the constitution until 2009, when 

term limits were removed, opening the way to any number of future terms as president. 

The early months of 2013 saw an unexpected increase in social unrest. And this was 

followed by a harsh government crackdown. There were various protests, some in Baku 

and some in the regions, some of which became violent. There were peaceful rallies in 

Baku that were violently dispersed by the police, who used water cannons and rubber 

bullets. Dozens of peaceful protesters were fined and sentenced to short periods of administrative detention. I provide a lot more detail in my written comments, but here, in the 

interest of time, I’m going to focus on a few things that I consider being the most pressing 

issues. 

Human Rights Watch reports 16 critics of the government who have been arrested 

in the first six months of 2013. Two prominent opposition figures, Tofiq Yaqublu of 

Musavat and Ilgar Mammadov of ReAl have already—already been mentioned here and 

they have already been in jail for six months waiting trial on false charges of having 

instigated civil unrest in Ismayilli. Seven members of the youth movement NIDA have 

been in jail since March. And four of them are considered Amnesty International prisoners 

of conscience. 

Human Rights Watch has profiled other cases of opposition youth activists who apparently had drugs planted on them by police. Some of them are religious activists as 

well. 

In the realm of media, freedom of information has also declined in the first half of 

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papers, but now it is trying to establish greater control on the Internet and in satellite 

broadcasts. 

June 2013 amendments to the criminal code made defamation on the Internet a 

criminal offense, making it possible to make criminal cases against online activists. Since 

April 2013, signals carrying Azeri language news produced by Radio Free Europe have 

been jammed. 

There’s also been problems with respect to NGOs. A new amendment in the NGO 

law increases existing sanctions against unregistered NGO activity in conjunction with 

arbitrary denial of registration, which places activists in an impossible position. They cannot work without registration, but they’re arbitrarily denied registration. The case of 

EMDS has already been mentioned. 

The youth organization OL!, which ran a highly successful free thought university, 

was shut down suddenly this spring. Several articles and statements smearing the work 

of NDI and NED appeared in March. 

Freedom of religion is another area of steep decline this year. The U.S. Commission 

for International Religious Freedom has downgraded Azerbaijan to a tier two country. 

The commission focused its criticism on a 2009 law on religion, which led to numerous 

raids, detentions, and arrests. 

I’d like to turn now to the pre-election environment which is probably of greatest 

interest to the Commission. In a July 2nd speech, President Aliyev seemed to encourage 

the police to abuse the opposition. He recalled that during past elections, international 

organization sought investigations into the conduct of police, to which he said, ‘‘I said 

back then and I want to say again now that not a single policemen will be punished.’’ 

President Aliyev went on to characterize his political opponents as traitors, betrayers, 

slave-minded people. 

Opposition activists are harassed, detained, barred from travel. There’s been no sanctioned rally in the center of Baku since 2006. And unsanctioned rallies are broken up 

violently. 

Despite this deepening authoritarianism, there has been a very significant development. In May, the National Council was formed. It is an umbrella organization that brings 

together opposition, politicians, NGOs, scholars, youth, bloggers, and even former government officials. In June, the National Council resolved to support a single presidential candidate from all the opposition forces. They chose Rustam Ibragimbekov, an Oscar-winning 

director and screenwriter who is revered in Azerbaijan. 

The National Council has outlined an ambitious program for constitutional reform 

that would reduce the powers of the president, institute checks and balances, and restore 

basic freedoms. 

Going into this election period, which is likely to be more competitive and more volatile than recent elections, ensuring independent and credible vote monitoring is of the 

outmost importance. Many contentious issues, including the registration of Mr. 

Ibragimbekov or other opposition candidates as they come forth and their ability to campaign are likely to require international attention. 

Domestic election monitoring organization EMDS remains unregistered. Domestic 

monitors are very vulnerable in the absence of a large and comprehensive OSCE mission. 


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As has already been observed here, there still has not been an official invitation for OSCE 

monitoring. 

A preliminary ODIHR report indicates a request for 30 long-term and 280 short-term 

observers. It would be better if this mission could be larger. By comparison, there were 

600 observers in Azerbaijan in 2003 in the presidential elections and there were 400 in 

Georgia last year. And Georgia has, by far, fewer polling stations. 

In closing, I’m very grateful to the Helsinki Commission for convening this briefing. 

It comes at a very important time. I hope that you will remain equally engaged in the 

coming months and will continue to call attention to the cases of political prisoners and 

the ability of civil society to do their work without harassment and intimidation. Thank 

you. 

Ms. HAN. Thank you, Dr. Lanskoy. 

I’d like to bring all of our panelists back up, if you don’t mind. Mr. Melia, you’ll 

be joining us over here. We’re going to squeeze everyone down. 

OK. I think we’re all set and I’m going to turn to Paul for the first—to start us off, 

ask a couple of questions, and then we’ll turn to audience. 

Mr. CARTER. OK. I want to give the audience time here to ask questions, so I won’t 

take much. Mr. Ambassador, thank you very much for your remarks. I noted when you 

said that the government of Azerbaijan would do all that it could to ensure a democratic 

election, I thought that was a very good point. Can you assure the Helsinki Commission 

that Mr. Rustam Ibragimbekov will be allowed to return to Azerbaijan without the threat 

of arrest and to conduct a campaign for the presidency free of harassment by the government? 

Mr. SULEYMANOV. Mr. Carter, thank you very much for your question. Well, I don’t 

know of any obstacles for Mr. Ibragimbekov to come back to Azerbaijan when he wishes. 

I genuinely believe that a person who wants to run for a leadership position in Azerbaijan 

needs, first of all, to be in Azerbaijan and perhaps to be citizen of Azerbaijan. That would 

be helpful. 

Azerbaijan has laws which have been in place for a long time. It’s not a new procedure. If Mr. Ibragimbekov actually—his candidacy and nomination complies—first of all, 

he has to be nominated by a number—there’re special rules. There has to be 40,000 people 

registered voters submitting the request. They have to come for at least from 60 precincts 

and he has to basically be registered by the Central Electoral Commission in compliance 

with Azerbaijani laws. 

Those laws, as a matter of fact, require no commitment to any other foreign nation. 

As it stands now, it is my understanding that Mr. Ibragimbekov is a citizen of the Russian 

Federation. While we do enjoy our friendly relationships with the citizens of Russian Federation, we do try to elect people in our country who are citizens of Azerbaijan only. So 

should his procedures be done, that’s up to him. We don’t interfere with his decisionmaking. And should he comply with all the requirements for a presidential candidate, 

I don’t know of any reason not to do that. 

But now, let me tell you something. I, as a representative of Azerbaijan Republic 

and as a diplomat here, I have no power and no direct influence over the Central Electoral 

Commission. So to make a commitment on behalf of a body I do not control, I cannot. 

I can ask you, for instance, can you assure that Section 907, which is obviously a counterVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Sep 01, 2015 Jkt 095489 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 3191 Sfmt 3191 E:\HR\OC\A489.XXX A489

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productive part of the legislation, will be repealed? You agree with me that that’s wrong, 

but you do not have power over parliament to commit to that. 

So I think we’re in equal situation. We’ll do what we can, but he has to comply with 

the Central Election Committee requirements. 

Ms. HAN. Mr. Melia, I wondered if I could ask you to just give us some comments 

on this pre-election period is really often the most important part of an election because 

on polling day, we’ve seen in many places, the outcome is pretty much already predetermined because of who’s on the ballot and who gets registered and who’s—so if you can 

talk about what you would like to see happen in Azerbaijan and maybe how the U.S. 

is engaging with Azerbaijan on this issue in this important period. 

Mr. MELIA. Sure. Well, we’re not treating Azerbaijan differently than we would treat 

any other country. The kinds of assessment that we do, the reports that we write, such 

in the Annual Human Rights report, we apply the same standards globally and conducting 

consistent assessment, as do, I think, many of the NGOs and think tanks that describe 

political processes and so on. 

You very correctly say—and I think I touched on this in my initial statement, that 

an election doesn’t just happen on voting day or vote counting day. So an overall assessment of the electoral process naturally includes what happens in the 90 days preceding 

an election. And we’re about at—all of the precise data hasn’t been announced yet—we’re 

probably about 90 days out from the election right now. 

The opportunity for candidates and voters to meet and assemble and talk about ideas 

and to have some access to the broadcast media and other opportunities to make their 

case to the voters, all of that will be part of what we and international monitors from 

other countries will be looking at. 

As I said, release of Mr. Mammadov from prison—he’s been in pretrial detention for 

more than five months now—would be an important step forward. He’s an announced 

presidential candidate. He should have a chance to talk to voters. So there’s a number 

of things—I laid them out in my testimony—that I think would be good steps in the right 

direction to live up to the aspirations and commitments that I think the ambassador conveyed and I think Azerbaijan is quite capable of. 

Ms. HAN. Thank you very much. I wanted to have two follow up quick questions 

before we move on from—if Mr. Namazov would like to talk about the status of Mr. 

Ibragimbekov and how—perhaps what the plans are from your party’s standpoint. 

Mr. Gadirli, given that Mr. Mammadov is in prison, what options do you have for 

his candidacy? Thanks. 

Mr. NAMAZOV. Thank you. I want to refer to previous question about Mr. 

Ibragimbekov ability to travel to Azerbaijan and be registered as a candidate. With this 

question, I want to mention that Mr. Ibragimbekov has, in recent times, twice had problems in both entering and exiting Azerbaijan at the border. State officials created troubles 

for him, including border control and other agencies. Each time, I had to go to the airport 

personally to help him out. And during this time, he was held at the airport for several 

hours. And each time the border officials that were mentioning to him personally that 

because he’s speaking against president, he’s criticizing president, they’re giving him this 

trouble. 


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At that time Mr. Ibragimbekov was not our single candidate. He was just an intellectual or a filmmaker. 

Regarding the registration of him as a candidate, I want to emphasize that our lawyers are working on his registration. According to them, there’re no legal obstacles that 

can prevent him to be registered as a candidate. They will be working definitely on collecting those signatures from the regions and et cetera, but even prior to that, already, 

there’re statements made from the government, members of the ruling party, who openly 

say that he cannot be registered as a candidate. This is before the elections. 

We hope that our candidate will be registered, but if he’s not going to be registered, 

then legitimacy of these elections will be questioned. And we as National Council will 

organize rallies to protect his rights. But we wish that the government will change its 

mind and register him as a candidate and not create extra problems for themselves. 

Ms. HAN. OK. Mr. Gadirli, if you could answer, and then the ambassador wanted 

to say something. 

Mr. SULEYMANOV. Yes, I want to say something. 

Ms. HAN. OK. 

Mr. GADIRLI. Thank you. Now, Ilgar Mammadov situation, as I said, he is in pretrial 

detention now, since February 4. No investigation goes on. Actually, he was not visited 

by investigators since then, so he’s just kept there. That’s quite indicative. That reveals 

the purpose of his arrest, to keep him out of this election for various reasons, because 

he is, as I said, stands for republicanism, stands for Euro-Atlantic integration. He was 

capable to raise the hope of the new generation of voters. In fact, one of the few positive 

changes that goes on in Azerbaijan is a generational change, is an unstoppable and uncontrollable. 

So Ilgar Mammadov is dedicated, is devoted to his ideals, and he’s strong enough 

and he is—he has a will to stand in this election as a candidate. And we as a group 

of his supporters and members of the organization he’s presiding over, will pursue with 

the nomination we have announced earlier, January, February this year. 

What if he’s not registered, as I assume, that was the second part of the question 

or—well, ideally, we have two options, either to have another candidate from our organization, or to support someone else from the opposition. Obviously, we’re not going to support 

the incumbent party’s candidate. But is far too early to elaborate on that. 

We continue with Ilgar Mammadov. He’s our candidate. We will do our best to try 

to get registered. With the registration, the entire situation is rather confusing. It’s not 

just about Ilham Aliyev himself is not eligible to stand in election this year because the 

constitution—you all know perhaps that the constitution was amended and that limitation 

about for one person to be no more than two times president in a row is now lifted. But 

that amendment was made after Ilham Aliyev became president for the second time. 

Ilham Aliyev made a constitutional promise to the people, he swore on the constitution. 

He took an oath. And at that time, the constitution did contain that limitation. So now 

Aliyev made a constitutional promise to the people that he will not run—as a candidate— 

not become a president for more than two times in a row. 

So that amendment, if we stay within the logic of the law, which forbids the retroactive application of amendments, is applicable. Something from 2013, we still in principle 

disagree with that amendment because we think that no more two times is the moral 


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established practice. But if that amendment is going to be applied, it should not apply 

to Ilham Aliyev himself. And of course, given the brutal situation at hand, if Ilham Aliyev 

is registered, then, of course, it would be fair to register Rustam Ibragimbekov as well 

because, regardless of some other legal obstacles he may have. 

Ms. HAN. OK. Thank you. 

Mr. SEYIDOV. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for giving me the floor. 

That’s, you know, a very familiar picture. When facts which, in front of us, try to present 

absolutely in different way, in not so understandable way. This is the constitution of Azerbaijan, my dear friends. Article 100 and I think you are familiar with the constitution 

of Azerbaijan. I want to read the Article 100. Any citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan 

not younger than 35 years of age, who has resided permanently on the territory of Republic of Azerbaijan, no longer than 10 years—et cetera—previously committed a serious 

crime—has no obligation to other states, has higher education, who has no dual citizenship 

may be elected president of the Republic of Azerbaijan. 

We all knows that for at present, Mr. Ibragimbekov has his Russian citizenship. He, 

today, is not able to be registered as a candidate for the presidency. This is the constitution of Azerbaijan. 

That’s a very strange situation when my oppositional friends talking about legal steps 

and democratic elections and they started from violation of the constitution, the fundamental law of my country. 

The same situation with my friend Mr. Gadirli. Mr. Gadirli, this is your interpretation. I can bring a lot of lawyers who can bring you absolutely different interpretation 

of the constitution of Azerbaijan, but these amendments has been amended by the majority of Azerbaijani population. My president has his right to be elected for the third term. 

That’s why, please, my dear friends, the problem of Azerbaijani opposition is not 

speak about the concrete steps, the concrete items from the constitution and to think how 

can they avoid the law which already adopted by Azerbaijani nation. We, as a leading 

party, we will do our best to organize the election in a free and fair manner, according 

to the constitution of Azerbaijan. Thank you. 

Ms. HAN. OK. I think that Mr. Namazov wants to address the—hopefully, you’ll address the citizenship issue. And then I really do want to go to the audience. 

Mr. NAMAZOV. Well, it’s apparent that the passport Rustam Ibragimbekov had from 

Soviet times, that’s a Soviet passport, which was transferred—became a Russian citizenship passport, he has—he didn’t deny this fact, so he admits that he has a Russian passport. He’s submitted his recusal or refusal of his Russian citizenship to Russian authorities. And according to Russian procedures—procedures in Russia, within a matter of few 

weeks, maximum a month, the Russian government has to make a decision on that— 

a positive decision on that request. 

For me it’s very strange that Mr. Samad Seyidov, the chairman of the governmental 

committee—International Relations Committee, does not want to see this. He has write 

about this in the media. There’s just the discussion about this, and is presenting this 

situation in a different way. I try to find a soft way to say it, but I think basically it’s 

a lie. 

Mr. SEYIDOV. I think this is a constitution. This is not my words. 


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Ms. HAN. OK. Yeah. Now, I’m going to go to the audience now, and—but first of 

all, I see there’s a lot of interest and because of that interest, I’m going to set some ground 

rules for your participation. The first ground rule is that there’s no statements. It has 

to be a question, direct question—please, sit down, just one second please—OK, a direct 

question and I’m going to time you. You get one minute to ask your question. Then I’m 

going to ring this bell, OK? And then, that will be the end of your question and we’ll 

move to answer it. What we’re going to do is we’ll take two or three questions, and then 

we’ll have the panelists respond, OK? 

OK, first of all, I want to ask, are there any journalists that are in the room because 

I would like to call on a journalist first? 

QUESTIONER. My name is Ilhan. I represent AZ, AZ news agency of Azerbaijan. My 

question would be to Eldar Namazov. Rustam Ibragimbekov is great person, valuable, 

well-known in Azerbaijan as merely the person of art, scenarist, and so on. But it’s known 

fact that he has this dual citizenship and it’s also known that he’s been out of Azerbaijan 

for very long time. At the same time, National Council is uniting force of opposition. What 

I’m wondering about is why not to find a candidate which lives in Azerbaijan, which has 

single citizenship, and which can represent the whole country, and knows the issues of 

the country, has been living with the people? So why to set it up for failure basically? 

Ms. HAN. OK. I’m sorry, but I am going to take two or three questions, and then 

we’ll—OK—no, please, if you’ll wait for the microphone and identify yourself, thank you. 

QUESTIONER. Ramis Yunus. I’m former chief of staff of government. I’m former chief 

of staff of parliament of Azerbaijan. 

You talk and my question Samad Seyidov. Mr. Seyidov, you’re talking about constitution. According to international human right organization such as Amnesty International, 

Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, and regarding political prisons in Azerbaijan, political prisons—situation in political prisons in Azerbaijan, can you tell us for everybody 

how number—how many political prisoners today in Azerbaijan, number? 

Ms. HAN. OK, I’m going to take one more from this gentleman in the second row, 

if you wait for the mic please. 

QUESTIONER. Hi. My name is Yusuf Azerbaijan State Telegraph Agency. My question 

is to the representative on the State Department, Mr. Melia. Since as you saw opposition 

usually refers to human rights groups such as, for instance, Freedom House, I wanted 

to mention that if you look at the report for 2013 Freedom in the World, Freedom House 

identifies Azerbaijan as not free, while identifying Armenia and even Nagorno-Karabakh, 

occupied Nagorno-Karabakh as partly free. My question is that—I’m not even going to 

talk about Armenia, where people are massacred even post-election, during post-election 

protests in 2008, but if you look—my question’s about Nagorno-Karabakh: How can a U.S. 

government funded agency go into an internationally recognized Azerbaijani territory 

under occupation, conduct a survey, and then declare it as—as partly free? Isn’t it an 

invitation for other countries to follow the suit, invade another country, occupy a large 

chunk of territory, and then, you know, remove the 600,000 natives from that land, and 

then open a few news agencies and, you know, declare it—invite the Freedom House and 

such organizations—— 

Ms. HAN. OK. I think we got it. Thank you. Thank you. OK, so we’ve got three questions on the table. Mr. Melia, would you like to start first, since we just had that question, 

and then we’ll turn over to you. 


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Mr. MELIA. Freedom in the World is not funded by the U.S. government. It’s funded 

by private donations to Freedom House. Some other publications that Freedom House 

does, like Nations in Transit, do get some assistance from the U.S. government. And what 

we give them a grant to do is to provide their own honest, independent assessment of 

the state of political rights and civil liberties in countries around the world. We don’t 

exercise any editorial control over the way they write the reports or the judgments they 

come to, the conclusions they come to. So I’ll redirect you to the editors and managers 

of Freedom House to discuss their methodology. 

Ms. HAN. Mr. Seyidov. 

Mr. SEYIDOV. Thank you for your questions. When we became a member of the Council of Europe, in front of me appeared the list of so-called political prisoners which consist 

716 person. We released all, and then after one month, one month, some agents from 

Azerbaijan presented to the Council of Europe another list of 500 political prisoners. 

We as a very young member of the Council of Europe released them all. And then, 

after two weeks, appeared new list of political prisoners with 400 or approximately 500 

again. That’s why, from this point of view, Mr. Ramis Yunus, we do not have political 

prisons. We have our obligations in front of the European Court of Human Rights and 

any person who convicted in Azerbaijan who made any kind of crimes can appeal to the 

European Court of Human Rights. 

I want to give you some very interesting fact. European Court of Human Rights made 

some decisions concerning Azerbaijan, and all these decisions have been implemented by 

Azerbaijani government. Despite of the fact that some European countries, including very, 

very famous and very influential, so-called old democracies, even today are not ready to 

implement the decision of the European Court of Human Rights. 

That’s why when we are talking about so-called political prisoners which used as 

a pressure to Azerbaijani policy, that’s another story. When we can see that some problematic issues had happened in Azerbaijan, we’re ready to investigate by ourselves. And we 

did it for a long period of time. Together with representative of NGOs in Azerbaijan, we 

had created special group in order to find solution of these kind of arrests and this kind 

of attitudes. And what had happened? Some international organizations appointed very 

famous just now person, Mr. Strasser, as a rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan 

and send us message, you are working in Azerbaijan by yourself. That’s not so fair. Some 

supervisor from the Council of Europe should monitor you. 

That’s why, again, we are ready to do our best for human rights, but we don’t want 

to see human rights as a tool in order to push to Azerbaijan to achieve some goals which 

some international organization has concerning Azerbaijan. 

Thank you. 

Mr. NAMAZOV. Rustam Ibragimbekov is citizen of Azerbaijan Republic constantly living in the territory of Azerbaijan Republic, is a chairman of the Cinematographers Union, 

is a chairman of Forum of Intelligentsia of Azerbaijan. He’s a founder and the chairman 

of Ibrus Theater, a drama theater Azerbaijan. Each year, he attends tens of events in 

Azerbaijan. And it’s unfair to say that he’s living outside of Azerbaijan. 

When we were selecting, voting for Rustam Ibragimbekov, there were 87 members 

of National Council in the hall, and out of 87 members, 86 voted for him and only one 

abstained, which shows that we made the right decision in selecting him as unified single 

candidate. 


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Ms. HAN. OK, thank you. We’re going to take three more questions, and that will 

draw our briefing to a close. So I’m going to call on you, in the second row right there. 

If you could wait—in the pink shirt—I’m sorry, purple shirt—whatever color that is. Mr. 

Mollazade, did you—OK, and then Mr. Mollazade. OK. Thank you. 

QUESTIONER. OK. Good afternoon. I’m Professor Brenda Shaffer at Georgetown University and my question I would like to offer to Mr. Melia and to Dr. Carter. In this 

Cold War period, the Soviet Union and the United States pursued a strategic competition 

between them through arming different movements, the different national movements in 

the Third World, different ideological movements, different religious movements. We saw 

the results of this. It brought societies apart. It created civil wars. It killed millions of 

people and destabilized countries, and in the end, it even hurt the security of the United 

States. 

In the post-Soviet period, we see that the countries have actually learned a new 

cheaper model and actually probably more efficient, which is instead of arming different 

movements around the world, we’re seeing the strategic competitions taking place in the 

ballot box and in the street and through protests. So we see, for instance, in the postArab Spring Middle East it’s not just about the people’s will, but it’s also the will of Russia, 

the will of Iran, the will of foreign powers. 

We see in the Caucasus in the past couple of years that not only is U.S. aid active 

there, but Russia’s version of aid, Iran’s version of aid. And even the list of political prisoners that Dr. Lanskoy discussed, many of them are there because they’re representatives 

of the Iranian government, funded by the Iranian government, being used for terrorist 

activities, and not just religious believers. 

So I’d like to know what is the U.S. policy on helping states find a balance between 

true democratic processes or misuse of the democratic processes for the promotion of external forces. Again, in the Middle East, but also specifically we’re seeing this focus in the 

South Caucasus, in Georgia, a Russian citizen elected for prime minister; in Azerbaijan, 

a Russian citizen, a candidate—how to allow this not to be an arena of external competition? 

Ms. HAN. And then, well, if you could like to add two—ask their questions— 

QUESTIONER. Hello, my name is Rafiq from University of Delaware. I have a really 

simply question to Azerbaijani official policymakers. I wonder whether there will be any 

changes regarding the settlement, the resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between 

Azerbaijan and Armenia after the presidential election. Do you expect any major changes, 

any changes in your counterparts? Thank you very much. 

Ms. HAN. And then, right here in the front row. 

QUESTIONER. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank for your commission for a 

very important hearing. 

Ms. HAN. Could you identify yourself? 

QUESTIONER. My question to representative of U.S. government—my name is Asim 

Mollazade. I’m chairman of Democratic Reform Party of Azerbaijan. My question is to 

Mr. Melia. Mr. Putin said that one of the biggest tragedy of 20th century was collapse 

of Soviet Union. Now, after idea of Eurasian Union, we have the active involvement of 

Russia to political process of post-Soviet world elections in Latvia, elections in Georgia, 

a lot of Russian citizens were elected there. As a result, we had arrest of prime minister 


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of Georgia, Ivane Merabishvili, and the silence in the world about this fact when people 

from Rose Revolution in jail. And also situations continue in Azerbaijan, and Madam 

Shaffer said about the Hezbollah-type of organization going to kill U.S. ambassador, Israel 

ambassador, leaders of Jewish Azerbaijani community. 

These people are in list of political prisoners, so called discussing. I mean, can anybody accept Hezbollah activity or Russian network activity financing in former Soviet territory? Is it a lack of U.S. interest to this situation? What do you think about the restoration of Soviet Union by Putin? 

Ms. HAN. I’ll give you a moment to think about that. So let’s start with—Paul, did 

you want to comment first on the professor from Georgetown? 

Mr. CARTER. Two versions of the same question actually. 

Ms. HAN. OK. Are you—OK, would you like to start. OK. Yeah, and I’ll give you— 

I’ll call on you, yes. 

Mr. MELIA. Yeah, I was going to say that the two questions are intertwined, the 

discussion about nationality and politics and external influences in neighboring states and 

so on. 

In my time in the U.S. government, which is brief but illuminating, I have come 

to appreciate the limits of American and other governments’ ability to influence outcomes 

in other countries. And it reminds me of a fundamental premise that I had learned working in the NGO world over the previous 25 years, which is that the outcomes in foreign 

political process will be determined by the people in those countries, and that there will 

be—whether they move forward or backwards, whether they have conflict or they have, 

you know, reconciliation, those are largely decisions that will be taken by the people of 

each country. And Azerbaijan, in this sense, is no different than any of the other countries. 

We as international actors play a supporting role. We can encourage what we think 

are good decisions. We can try to discourage bad decisions. We can demonstrate that we 

support the work of certain kinds of actors like civil groups or journalist or government 

agencies. You know, we work a lot with government agencies and we try to improve their 

capacity to do their business better. 

But we can’t make them do their work better. We can’t make them more professional 

or more democratic or more transparent. That’s not a function of the assistance we provide. That’s a function of decisions that are taken by other people who live in other countries. 

Now, I know there are other actors out there that are perhaps a tad more malevolent 

than the United States generally is. But again, I would not overstate the degree of international influence in these political processes. I think the Russian role in Georgia has 

been vastly overstated by some. I think, again, it’s Georgians driving decisions in Georgia 

and I think that that would be the case in Azerbaijan. It would be the people and officials 

and the voters in Azerbaijan that will ultimately decide the future of the country. But 

Dr. Carter is much more of an expert on the nationalities of the former Soviet Union 

than I am. So he can explain what’s really going on. 

Mr. CARTER. Thank you very much, Tom. I guess my observation on this would be 

that actually echoing what Tom had to say about the influence of bigger powers on other 

countries. I mean, certainly history shows that sooner or later it’s the domestic situations 

in these countries that win out. And you know, sometimes these big powers can influence 


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developments even for long periods of time, but then eventually, it’s the situations within 

the countries that prevail. 

The United States, in many countries—we can’t want democracy more than the people of the countries with which we have a relationship. Our assistance overseas, history 

and the record of our assistance shows that—that where the people really want this, we 

can help them, but where the people are not ready yet or have other ideas, things don’t 

work out. 

We think that given the developments in Azerbaijan that things seem to be going 

in a—at least popular opinion wants democracy. We believe that. And we certainly would 

like to do everything we can to support that. And that’s one of the reasons that we had 

this hearing today, to try to give a little bit of a support to that effort. 

Ms. HAN. OK. I’m going to turn next to the Ambassador and Mr. Seyidov, are you 

going to address the Nagorno-Karabakh? 

Mr. SEYIDOV. Yes. 

Ms. HAN. OK. And then what I’m going to do is I’ll allow Mr.—everyone to have 

one to two minutes to sort of wrap up their—any final comments you’d like to make. 

Mr. Seyidov. 

Mr. SEYIDOV. Thank you very much, again. That’s a very, very essential question 

because today, Nagorno-Karabakh issue is the question which we should discuss everywhere. And today, the pressure which we can see to Azerbaijan because of our independent 

policy. We did our best to be an independent and we’re doing our best to be an independent, but unfortunately not only we are able to see our possibilities and our influence 

in the region, and that’s why I think Karabakh issue is the key point to show who is 

a master in the region. 

Azerbaijan is in favor to find a solution, peaceful solution of Nagorno-Karabakh issue 

and then several times mentioned that unfortunately we faced with three Armenia, not 

with one. The one Armenia is just nation which are living in a neighboring country. Poor 

people, they are isolated because of the policy which provided by the government Armenia. 

But the second Armenia living here, in United States of America, in Los Angeles, that’s 

a Diaspora, rich, influential, standing there and maybe here and try to influence to these 

briefings. And the third Armenia is existing, Armenia as a tool in the hands of the big 

power to show he’s a master in South Caucasian region. 

You said, my dear colleagues, that, you know, nation is responsible for future and 

for democracy. Of course nation is responsible, but why we have seen the same de ́ja` vu 

in Georgia, Russian citizen coming and taking part in election; in Azerbaijan, Russian 

citizen is coming and taking part, negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan deadlock. 

United States of America is in favor to change status quo, but even you are not able 

to change the situation. 

That’s why, despite of all this pressure, despite of all these obstacles, the leadership 

of Azerbaijan is doing its best for finding the solution of Nagorno-Karabakh—peaceful 

solution of Nagorno-Karabakh. Because we have a lot of things to lose. We want to keep 

our future. We want to do our best for our country. Thank you very much. 

Ms. HAN. Mr. Namazov. 

Mr. NAMAZOV. We observe today that pre-election situation in Azerbaijan has already 

started, that there’re steps taken towards already with clear outcome towards the elecVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Sep 01, 2015 Jkt 095489 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 3191 Sfmt 3191 E:\HR\OC\A489.XXX A489

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tions. Government is trying to present National Council here in Washington as Russia’s 

project. But other member of Azeri government, like the chairman of president staff, Mr. 

Ramsmetiev he travels to Moscow or Tehran, where he says that National Council is a 

project of the West. And if they—the National Council wins this election, Azerbaijan will 

be more integrated to Europe, to West, to NATO. So as you see, that there’s in the same 

amount of time two different presentations of the National Council. 

But I want to assure you that the decision of what will be the next government will 

be decided not in Moscow, Tehran, or Washington, but by the will of Azerbaijani people 

and they will be determined by voting in October and then defending their laws to make 

the change. 

Ms. HAN. Mr. Ambassador, if you could spend two minutes wrapping up. 

Mr. SULEYMANOV. Yes. Thank you very much once again. And let me raise one question right away. As someone who grew up in the Soviet Union, I am quite used to the 

Soviet propaganda casually using words like racism and I know it is irrelevant to the 

United States. So I grew up living in an imperialist racist society here. If you look at 

the propaganda efforts today against the United States, you would often see the same 

thing. 

I’m very saddened at what I heard here casual use of words ‘‘false,’’ ‘‘planted,’’ ‘‘smearing.’’ So for instance, when it is someone in Azerbaijan, when it’s written against somebody 

who you like, it’s a smearing campaign. If it’s written about somebody in the government, 

it’s freedom of speech and can never be stopped. 

So we need to be a little bit more grown up about this and basically think about 

things which are realistic. I mean, I spent five and a half years as consul general in Los 

Angeles. We saw yesterday what happened in Los Angeles between police force and protesters. Now, what should we—should we have a briefing at the parliament of Azerbaijan 

and somebody coming and mentoring Ambassador Morningstar? He’s not a young man. 

I don’t want him to suffer like that. So let us get a little bit realistic here. 

Another thing is, for instance and be a little bit careful in casual using words. I mean, 

those words actually matter. And if we want them to matter, then let’s use them more 

carefully. 

Another thing which surprised me here is that we have spent discussing a potential 

candidacy of Mr. Ibragimbekov, who’s a well-known actor, but what are we discussing? 

It’s a superficial—I’m not as familiar as Mr. Namazov is with the Russian decision-making 

process. So I don’t know exactly what the Russians decide or what they don’t decide. I 

don’t know. I don’t know Russians that well. 

But at the moment, the fact is obvious: Mr. Ibragimbekov has a Russian passport. 

He said he wants to get rid of it. If he gets rid of it by time and he’s eligible to be registered, he will be registered by law. If he’s not eligible, he will not be eligible. So discussion of this but—and using this discussion in order to attack the government when the 

fact stands is actually kind of—just—I mean, it’s kind of strange, to be honest. 

The other thing that I wanted to say is first of all, Mr. Gadirli, I thank you for bringing up the words of Mr. Wilson, President Wilson. I think every Azerbaijani in this room 

and beyond, we all share the aspiration of Mr. Topchubashev, Fatali Khan Khoyski, and 

everybody else who built Azerbaijan’s republic. Every day, I can tell you that my mission 

here defends the flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan because we believe in the spirit of 

that flag. 


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Now, Mr. Gadirli, you know how much I respect you, but you also know that the 

republic you referred to lived 23 months and no, Mr. Melia, it did not fall because of 

domestic dissidents, it fell because of the obvious foreign invasion. So please, while in 

a continent—the great continent of North America surrounded oceans, it seems that foreign intervention is a very remote possibility. In my country, it’s not the same. 

Mr. Gadirli, I share your aspiration for democratic and independent Azerbaijan. We 

do everything possible to make sure that happens. Let us work together. Let us work 

together to make sure that the spirit which instilled in that republic remains forever. 

Azerbaijan must be independent. And let me tell you something. As much as you might 

disagree with the government of Azerbaijan, it is because of the leadership of Haydar 

Alyiev and Ilham Alyiev, the Republic of Azerbaijan stands at the most independent, most 

sovereign, and in most progressive republic of the former Soviet Union. So in fact, when 

you blow down the words of Mr. Wilson, you know what we’re trying to do is to solidify 

that spirit. 

Now, I will just make a very small reference to what you said. I know that you basically believe in parliamentary system, and you’re entitled to your view. Based on that 

you offer a very narrow interpretation of a referendum and a constitution. I disagree with 

your view on that. I think that majority view in Azerbaijan is obvious and majority view 

around the world supports the idea that amendment into constitution enters into force 

for the moment it’s adopted. So I think there’s no legal preclusion for the incumbent president to be elected. 

Ms. HAN. I’m sorry, but we’re going to lose our room and I apologize to cut you off. 

Mr. Melia if you could start, then we’ll go to Dr. Lanskoy and then Mr. Gadirli, you’ll 

have the last word. Oh, I’m sorry, and Paul. 

Mr. MELIA. I’ll just conclude where we began by saying that Azerbaijan is an important partner of the United States. It is our policy that we want them to succeed as a 

sovereign, secure, and prosperous country based on the shared democratic aspirations that 

we have all committed to in joining the OSCE and the Council of Europe. And everything 

we do and say is intended to contribute to the consolidation of Azerbaijan’s success as 

an independent nation. 

I think in the context of these 90 days or so until the presidential election comes, 

there are a handful of things that the government of Azerbaijan could do tomorrow that 

would advance the democratic process. We talked about the need to release Ilgar 

Mammadov. I think it’s entirely within the power of the government to register the EMDS 

as a domestic election monitoring organization, to invite ODIHR, the OSCE ODIHR to 

send their observers short- and long-term. To permit ordinary political activity—let people 

come and go, have their meetings, make their speeches, and get their messages out, and 

let the people decide whether to vote for one candidate or the other. 

We in the United States don’t have any preferences for candidates of parties. We 

focus on a process and the more transparent and fair the process is, the more confident 

we are that Azerbaijan will move forward. 

Ms. HAN. Dr. Lanskoy. 

Ms. LANSKOY. Thank you. Let me say a couple of things. First, on the whole question 

of kind of what do we look for in the election period, one of the sort of basic issues is 

whether there’s an acceptance that there can be an opposition, and not just saying—not 

just automatically painting the opposition as a projection of bad foreign influence. 


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We see a lot of authoritarian governments that do that, that say the opposition is 

not authentic. The opposition is somehow influenced by others. We see this right now 

in Russia, where Putin is basically saying this is—you know—those NGOs, they’re foreign 

agents and members of the opposition met with the Georgian parliamentarian this is not 

an authentic opposition. It’s a shame to see some of that happening in Azerbaijan. 

Ilgar Mammadov is well-known to us. He’s not an agent of Russia. He’s not an agent 

of Iran. He’s certainly a political prisoner. It is a shame to hear that type of argument 

being used against people who are totally pro-Western. The time that I’ve spent watching 

Azerbaijan actually predates those back to when I was at the EU and I was following 

Azerbaijan closely and publishing on it all the time. And you could see how over these 

20 years Azerbaijan has gone in the wrong direction. It used to be roughly on parity with 

Georgia when it came to things like NATO expansion. Azerbaijan and Georgia in the mid- 

’90s were about in the same place as they—Azerbaijan was saying we really want to be 

in NATO and was looking for a path in that direction. 

Now, there’s such a big difference. If you look at, again, referring to Freedom House 

surveys, and those are based on extensive research, Azerbaijan’s scores are getting closer 

to Uzbekistan. It’s not getting closer to Georgia or closer to Europe. It’s getting closer 

to the Central Asians, and that’s very unfortunate. 

It’s already been said. Azerbaijan has a very vibrant civil society. And on that, I 

do agree with the representatives of the government. There’s really a great civil society. 

It is a very diverse country. And there’s no place that’s more ready for democratic government and I wish all the Azerbaijanis the best in the elections. 

Ms. HAN. Mr. Gadirli. 

Mr. GADIRLI. Thank you. I deliberately started my speech with a quote from former 

President Wilson. He didn’t say that he agreed or disagreed with Azerbaijani delegation. 

The only thing he said that he noticed that they were speaking the same language. Now, 

this is very important. It’s important because it reveals the fact how people conceptualize 

the world, how they envision the future of their country, how they understand their own 

existence, what mental map they have in their own hand in the end. 

So we have a very bright ambassador here in the U.S. It’s not that I’m paying the 

tribute to what he has just said to me—— 

Mr. SULEYMANOV. It looks that way. 

Mr. GADIRLI. There’re bright people in the government, employed by the government, 

who speak various languages, who built a personal career and have self-esteem. That 

goes without saying. It’s not that we don’t see that. The problem is and what I try to 

explain here is how government communicates to its own people internally. 

I have no illusion about foreign aid, especially in a democracy building. And we’re 

not here to complain or ask for something. But the language the government uses to communicate to its own people is extremely outdated, extremely outdated. The concepts they 

use, the terminologies they employ, the phraseology they use actually. I mean, one of 

the MPs whom I personally respect, is not a member of incumbent party, but he’s a bright 

lawyer himself, recently, relatively recently said to the media that Ilgar Mammadov, I 

quote, ‘‘is a last and unsuccessful attempt by the West to have a color revolution in Azerbaijan.’’ End of quote. 


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29 

I’m not getting into the fact statement of whether he’s true or not, but the language 

is quite indicative. 

Now, we hear here and there in Azerbaijan, someone is Russian agent. Someone is 

Iranian agent. Someone is Western agent. I’m really fed up with this. We have to pay 

attention to the conduct, to the process. We have to ensure that ideas become part of 

the process and people are valued because of the things they say. 

There’s another thing that is overlooked, what is called intellectual dependence. 

That’s very different thing from the thing that agency of change. If I studied, for example, 

German philosophy, which greatly influenced myself, I can fairly enough say that I am 

intellectually dependent on German philosophy. I didn’t study Chinese philosophy. I’m 

not intellectually dependent on what the greatest Chinese civilization produced. 

But the worldview I have is a Western. But now, what we see is the government, 

again, communicating to its own people. I know that they say a lot of nice and sometimes 

true things to the West. But the way they communicate to its own people is very outdated 

and very Russian-like, not in terms that the Russians instructs them, but in terms of 

the system, the similarity in the system, the similarity in the problems. 

Look what the Russia—how Russia treats its NGO and how Azerbaijani government 

treats the NGO. The same talks: agents, agents, agents, foreign aid, grants, blah, blah. 

How Russia treats its parties, its political parties and the political process, how Azerbaijani government treats its political parties and process, and et cetera, et cetera, et 

cetera. 

Now, Professor Brenda Shaffer mentioned about the task upon the Iranian influence, 

et cetera. This is another truth, by the way. A growing Islam, for example. Yes, Islam 

grows in Azerbaijan, but partly because it was oppressed during Soviet time. Now, it simply is reaching its traditional level. I think it will catch some 30–35 percent of the society. 

Yes, it’s visible because the number of voters increased who have some religious aspirations and for any politician, including the incumbent party—and they do so, which is fair 

enough and it’s legitimate to—in public people’s campaign—we have to address the needs 

of the believers. That says, yes, Islam has become politically—political factor. But not 

in the sense that Islam is becoming a political factor in a way that any Islamic group 

can grab the power. 

They have significant and very deep disagreements among themselves. They have 

different intellectual dependencies. Some depend on Iran. Some depend on Turkey. Some 

depend on Arab. There’s no way they can come to any agreement among themselves. 

Let’s stop these speculations and manipulations about Islam, about Russia, about 

Iran without—with due account to the real geostrategical threats. I agree with you, Mr. 

Ambassador, they are threats. They are threats. They’re existential threats. And they’re 

not going to go anywhere if the government changes. And we do share that concern. Also 

about Karabakh. I don’t know if there’re Armenians here, no matter from which part of 

the world they’re from. But I also want our American friends to know this. It’s not just 

about Azerbaijan and Armenia. 

We have to have a clear picture. The end of the ’80s and the beginning of ’90s were 

two different trends. Armenians wanted Karabakh at any price. Azerbaijanis wanted independence at any price. When you want something at any price, you pay the highest price 

possible. What we have, Azerbaijan got its independence, but lost a control over the 


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30 

Karabakh and surrounding area. Armenia got control over Karabakh and surrounding 

areas, but lost its independence. 

I want to understand everyone here in this room, occupation is the price Azerbaijan 

pays for its independence. 

Mr. GADIRLI. I want you to know that the reason I’m standing in opposition about 

that is just the fact that we don’t talk to each other in our country—no, not you and 

myself. But is no talk in Azerbaijan. I know that I can access you. And in fact, unlike 

Americans here, I have a luxury to ignore your diplomatic status because for me you’re 

first of all my fellow compatriot. But because we don’t have a talk, there is no process. 

No one can misuse it or use it if there is no process. 

Ms. HAN. All right. Thank you. I’m going to call on Dr. Carter to provide some concluding remarks and then we’ll wrap it up. 

Mr. CARTER. OK. We’ve heard testimony from a distinguished group of American and 

Azerbaijan officials, politicians, and experts. They’ve offered diverse perspectives on the 

current political situation in Azerbaijan and the prospects for a free and fair presidential 

election this fall. We are grateful to each for agreeing to appear at this briefing today. 

I began my introductory remarks earlier by noting that the United States is a friend 

of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani people and that we have many common interests with 

the government in Baku. These strong ties have have been an important factor in our 

close cooperation over the years and we would like to see our relationship become even 

stronger. As we have heard today, Azerbaijan is indeed at a crossroads. One path leads 

forward toward democracy and economic prosperity. The other leads toward authoritarianism, corruption, and eventually, economic stagnation and decline. 

The presidential election this fall will be an important opportunity for Azerbaijan 

to act on this choice. All candidates must be allowed to move and campaign freely without 

fear of arrest or harassment. Journalists must be free to cover and report on the election 

and other stories without the threat of detention on trumped up charges, physical assault, 

or the jamming of broadcasts. 

NGOs, religious organizations, and other elements of civil society must be allowed 

to operate without arbitrary bureaucratic or legal impediments. And all of Azerbaijani 

society must be able to trust that it is governed in a transparent and rule-based manner 

in the interests of all and not in the interests of a small group. 

These are obligations that Azerbaijan has undertaken as a member of the United 

Nations, the OSCE, and other international organizations. It has—excuse me—it is our 

sincere hope that Azerbaijan will see this opportunity, guarantee these basic democratic 

and human rights, and take its rightful place as a regional cornerstone of democracy, 

social peace, and prosperity. 

Thank you again to all of our panelists and to all of you who have attended this 

briefing today. 

Ms. HAN. Thank you very much. 

Æ 


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