Joanna
----- Original Message ----- The Aliev dynasty's Azerbaijan regime runs a kleptocratic petrostate in the interest of the multinational oil barons. The dynasty's founder, Geidar Aliev, was a leading figure, a hard-line Politburo member, in the Stalinist ruling class of the self-styled "USSR." It is spectacular proof that the "dissolution of the USSR" was not what the benighted degenerated-workers'-state epigones of Trotsky called a "counter-revolution" but rather the organic development of a counter- revolutionary Stalinist regime whose state-capitalist nature had already been "decided by history" a half-century earlier.
(from The Armenian Weekly, 18/09/14)
click for more STRASBOURG—Today, the European Parliament with an overwhelming majority adopted a resolution condemning the persecution of human rights defenders in Azerbaijan, and calling for targeted sanctions against Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s regime, and visa bans against some who are directly responsible for oppression in the country.
Azerbaijan was harshly criticized by members of the European Parliament, who stressed the absurd reality of Azerbaijan currently holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Council of Ministers—an institution upholding values of Human Rights and Freedom— whereas, “in the last few years the general Human Rights climate in Azerbaijan has been deteriorating, with a major escalation of government repression, pressure and intimidation directed at NGOs, civil society activists, journalists and human rights defenders.”
Parliamentarian Marie-Christine Vergiat (Confederal Group of the European United Left – Nordic Green Left, France) said that the impunity of Azerbaijan and the Aliyev regime should stop, that the EU should not be focused on oil and gas only, and that the Association Agreement with Azerbaijan should not go on. Parliamentarian Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Germany) stressed the gruesome reality facing civil society in Azerbaijan, after the authoritarian regime’s continuous and brutal crackdowns based on fabricated and politically motivated charges. It was also mentioned, that a few months earlier, President Aliyev had called his critics liars from the podium of the Council of Europe, and had rejected any sort of criticism, despite the deteriorating situation in Azerbaijan.
“[The European Parliament] deplores the actions taken by the Azerbaijani Government to curb contacts between civil society and youth activists and intellectuals from Armenia and Azerbaijan, since these contacts are of major importance for bridging the long-standing hostility between the two countries; in this regard, recalls the important work done in this area by Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif,” states the resolution.
The resolution also stresses that the European Parliament’s consent to the signature of a partnership agreement with Azerbaijan will be conditional on the satisfactory implementation of the above-mentioned requirements, the release of human rights defenders, the withdrawal of legislation restricting the operations of an independent civil society, and the cessation of repression and intimidation of NGOs, independent media, opposition forces, human rights defenders and youth and social network activists. Members of the European Parliament stressed that Azerbaijan should be held accountable for its actions at home, and that promotion of human rights should be an inseparable part of the foreign policy of the EU.
The resolution highlights the fact that the EU-Azerbaijan human rights dialogue has made no substantial progress; calls on the European External Action Service (EEAS) to step up this dialogue, aim for results, and to report regularly to Parliament; and calls on the EU Council and the Member States to urge the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to call on the Azerbaijani authorities to stop the crackdown on activists, and make it clear that it expects the country, as hosts of the European Olympic Games to be held next year, to uphold the Olympic Charter’s requirement to respect press freedoms.
Most importantly, the European Parliament recalls its position of May 24, 2012, and calls on the EU Council to consider the possibility of targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations, should these persist.
Kaspar Karampetian, President of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD) said that finally the European Union is speaking up against the oppressive regime in Baku, and that Commissioner Neven Mimica’s intervention is in the right direction. “We welcome this resolution of the European Parliament—a resolution that upholds the real values of the European Union, while stressing the necessity of sanctions against the regime in Baku. Human Rights should be considered in all aspects of foreign policy; and energy flow to Europe should not blind the EU to breaches of Human Rights and fundamental freedoms,” said Karampetian, adding, “Real democracy in Azerbaijan and respect to the right of self-determination of peoples is the only key to solving the long standing conflict with Nagorno- Karabagh, and a peaceful co-habitation in the South Caucasus.”
Shane Mage
This cosmos did none of gods or men make, but it always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, kindling in measures and going out in measures.
Herakleitos of Ephesos
___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk