{"id":1852,"date":"2016-01-08T21:25:34","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T21:25:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=1852"},"modified":"2016-01-23T21:43:11","modified_gmt":"2016-01-23T21:43:11","slug":"searching-for-the-armenian-lobby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/covcasbulletin.info\/?p=1852","title":{"rendered":"Searching for the \u2018Armenian Lobby\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ARZU GEYBUALLA*
\noDR – Russia and Beyond<\/em><\/p>\n

Conspiracies keep the people pliant and rulers fearless. In Azerbaijan, all dissidents are considered to be agents of a shadowy \u2018Armenian lobby\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Conspiracy theories are no stranger to resourceful leaders. They can consolidate political power, cultivate the image of an external enemy and reduce their responsibility for the nation’s ills. And in the ex-Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, conspiracy theories help keep incumbent president Ilham Aliyev in power.<\/p>\n

According to these conspiracies, Azerbaijan has two main enemies: the Armenian lobby and the jealous west. As the former is often said to finance the latter, these two enemies become one: an omnipresent and all-powerful \u2018Armenian lobby\u2019. This powerful structure has become a commonly used weapon in the hands of the authoritarian leadership of Azerbaijan to crack down on dissent. By referring to all of its critics both at home and abroad as Armenian, pro-Armenian, and representing Armenian interests, the authorities have created a quick conspiracy formula for muzzling independent voices by labelling them as traitors.<\/p>\n

Keep grievances close<\/strong><\/p>\n

Armenia wasn\u2019t always used as a political tool in Azerbaijan\u2014at least, not as much as today. Between 1988 and 1994, the two countries fought a bitter war over the mountainous area of Nagorno Karabakh. The ceasefire that ended the conflict in 1994 failed to maintain a buffer zone.<\/p>\n

Casualties on the front line continue to this day, and the failure to reach an agreement between the two states to this day leaves the territory administered as an unrecognised state under Armenian protection. Thousands of civilians have been displaced. Warlike rhetoric has significantly increased over the years and, these days, it is the rubber stamped government policy in both Armenia and Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

But conditions were different following the first years of independence. There was more dialogue and exchange following the 1994 ceasefire. Journalists travelled freely while non-governmental experts spent time on joint initiatives.<\/p>\n

Shahin Rzayev, an Azerbaijani journalist, visited Armenia and unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh seven times between 1997 and 2007. Over the years, permission to travel to the neighbouring state got harder to obtain.<\/p>\n

\u2018During our first trips, our work schedule was much more open. We could freely plan our meetings, walk around Yerevan accompanied by our colleagues, and without any security. These days, every single move needs to be approved ahead of time, including 24 hour security, even to the toilets.\u2019 Such demands made trips extremely irritating, recalls Rzayev.<\/p>\n

Rzayev says changes followed the death of independent Azerbaijan\u2019s first president Heydar Aliyev. \u2018There was antagonism towards these trips. But the attitude was positive overall. I recall even Heydar Aliyev saying he applauded such visits and he himself received Armenian journalists in Baku [Rzayev met Armenia\u2019s then prime minister Robert Kocharyan]. Attitudes changed after Aliyev\u2019s illness and death. People visiting Armenia were branded traitors, even on the ministerial level.\u2019<\/p>\n

Today one doesn\u2019t have to visit Armenia to get branded a traitor. Last year, I too was labelled a \u2018traitor\u2019 shortly after news of my work with the Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos was made public. I was defamed and shamed for writing critically in the enemy\u2019s paper. Death threats came shortly after.<\/p>\n

…and conspiracies closer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listening to people like Shahin Rzayev, one could say that it was the coming to power of Ilham Aliyev in 2003 that marked the birth of conspiracy theories in Azerbaijan. Throughout Aliyev\u2019s leadership, branding someone \u2018Armenian\u2019 has become a common political tool\u2014often used by government officials and state media as a sign of solidarity.<\/p>\n

Naturally, any constructive criticism of government policies, harassment against rights advocates or crackdown on independent voices came to be seen as an act influenced solely by Azerbaijan\u2019s enemies, funded through the Armenian lobby and whose sole purpose is to dismantle the ruling powers.<\/p>\n

Just browsing through statements of MPs one sees a pattern in statements on various occasions, accusing an \u2018Armenian lobby\u2019 of plotting against Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

For instance, Musa Qasimli MP claimed in 2015 that all international rights watchdogs were sponsored by or created by the \u2018Armenian lobby\u2019. In response to a protest against BP\u2019s sponsorship of the Baku games by activist organisation Platform London outside the oil company\u2019s UK headquarters, Gasimli stated that \u2018All of these organisations are backed by an Armenian lobby, Armenian diaspora and groups which are not interested in seeing Azerbaijan\u2019s development.\u2019 Platform London\u2019s June report noted that \u2018the Baku 2015 Games are a celebration of a marriage between the First Family of Azerbaijan, the Aliyevs and the oil corporation BP. These are not just the Aliyev\u2019s games; they are also BP\u2019s games.\u2019 Since 1994, Azerbaijan has become one of BP’s key investment markets and, so to speak, its fourth largest province.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the hate continues. \u2018There are certain organisations across the world whose main goal is to pour dirt on developing countries like ours. These organisations include Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and others. They publish fake reports about Azerbaijan, all prepared on the orders of the Armenian lobby,\u2019 said Galib Salahzade, another MP, in the aftermath of a series of critical reports published on Azerbaijan\u2019s deteriorating rights record.<\/p>\n

The US 2015 Azerbaijan Democracy Act, a bill to deny visas to Azerbaijani officials introduced in December<\/a>, has been deemed yet another example of the work of the Armenian lobby. The bill was drafted and proposed in the US senate as a response to \u2018unprecedented attack on democracy, human rights and civil society in Azerbaijan\u2019. Hikmat Hajiyev, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesperson, was quick to call the draft bill the outcome of the Armenian lobby.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Asim Mollazade, another Azerbaijani MP, accused the State Department of working with the Armenian lobby it released a report on the persecution of the family members of Azerbaijani activists. \u2018This report was prepared by the Armenian lobby. They are closing their eyes to what\u2019s going on in Armenia and are criticising Azerbaijan instead,\u2019 responded Mollazade.<\/p>\n

Even Secretary of State John Kerry was labelled Armenian. Rovshan Rzayev, another MP, said, \u2018It is known all too well that Kerry has good connections with the Armenian lobby [citing Section 907<\/a>, which bans any direct US aid to Azerbaijan]. But it would be good if Kerry re-evaluated US-Azerbaijan partnership agreements. State interests as opposed to personal interests should be a priority.\u2019<\/p>\n

Among other countries, the existence and presence of Armenian lobbies in the United States and France is no breaking news. For decades these groups have been pushing for the recognition of the Armenian genocide as well as a pro-Armenian position on Karabakh. The Armenian lobby slur can thus serve two purposes: maintaining the status quo in the Karabakh conflict, while undermining any tangible progress in the development of civil society in Azerbaijan, portraying all and any such NGOs as\u2014at best\u2014unnecessary.<\/p>\n

In good company<\/strong><\/p>\n

The few examples of the inflated significance of the \u2018Armenian lobby\u2019 in Azerbaijan have parallels in other authoritarian states. In Turkey, president Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan searches for scapegoats in wild conspiracy theories, accusing a \u2018parallel lobby\u2019 of plotting against Turkish statehood. In Putin\u2019s Russia, \u2018fifth columnists\u2019 and \u2018foreign agents\u2019 carry a similar if not identical connotation.<\/p>\n

In the case of Russia, conspiracy theories rose to the fore under Putin\u2019s leadership. Serghei Golunov argues that the use of conspiracy theories isn\u2019t new<\/a> and that it was particularly common during the Soviet period. \u2018What makes [conspiracy theories] so abundant during Putin\u2019s time,\u2019 writes Golunov, \u2018[is] his affiliation with the security services.\u2019 Their empowerment during Putin\u2019s reign \u2018made it more likely that the regime would employ conspiracy theories in its rhetoric and policy.\u2019<\/p>\n

Golnov’s account bears striking similarities with Azerbaijan. There too, preventing \u2018colour revolutions\u2019 and later \u2018Arab springs\u2019 were the main priority of the government apparatus. Just as in Russia, NGOs receiving foreign funding became targets. Activists were accused of carrying out instructions of foreign enemies, and of being funded by the Armenian lobby or directly linked to Armenian lobby. All of this had a single aim\u2014to delegitimise Aliyev\u2019s opponents.<\/p>\n

The real victims<\/strong><\/p>\n

While Baku excels at using the \u2018Armenian lobby\u2019 as the main driver of all criticism of the government, it also has a habit of instrumentalising the Nagorno-Karabakh war and its consequences in a most cynical way.<\/p>\n

A long time observer of Azerbaijan in Brussels, who spoke to openDemocracy on condition of anonymity, says that Azerbaijani authorities do not shy away from using the Karabakh conflict as a shield. \u2018Whenever there is a criticism of Azerbaijan\u2019s human rights record, say, resolutions of the European Parliament, Azerbaijani authorities are quick to remind [the European Parliament] about the fate of the displaced Azerbaijanis from Nagorno Karabakh [and the adjacent seven territories]. So, they use it as a shield against human rights-based criticism.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018When there were meetings in the EP on the human rights [situation in Azerbaijan] before the Eurovision song contest, MPs from the Milli Mejlis [Azerbaijan\u2019s National Parliament] were urgently shipped to Brussels to disrupt these meetings by constantly interrupting the speakers (among whom there were activists who are now jailed, such as Rasul Jafarov), making comments irrelevant to the subject and abusing the Nagorno Karabakh issue to sabotage the discussions.\u2019<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the Brussels-based observer reminds us, Baku \u2018willingly ignored\u2019 the resolutions adopted by the European Parliament \u2018respecting Azerbaijan\u2019s territorial integrity and the right of the IDPs to return to their homes.\u2019<\/p>\n

A more recent resolution adopted by the European Parliament<\/a> in September this year and which called for the release of all political prisoners, human rights defenders, journalists and activists, attests to the tendency noted above.<\/p>\n

Parliament members in Azerbaijan described the resolution as \u2018biased\u2019 and accused the EP of \u2018double standards\u2019. In her statement, parliament member Leyla Abdullayeva said, \u2018Azerbaijan is just like many other Muslim states suffering from double standards policy [\u2026] we are the ones who are occupied and suffered aggression. But unlike Azerbaijan, Armenia doesn\u2019t get any sanctions [\u2026] looks like someone cannot stomach our country\u2019s free and independent policy. Behind them no doubt is the Armenian lobby and the world community of Armenians. Our President also said that they are our number one enemy\u2019.<\/p>\n

The observer calls these accusations \u2018total nonsense\u2019, adding that \u2018Azerbaijan’s propaganda portrays these people [members of the parliament] as \u201cpro-Armenian\u201d, \u201cIslamophobic\u201d, and \u201cjealous of Azerbaijan\u2019s successes [but] none of them has any connection to the Armenian lobby.\u2019<\/p>\n

In fact, one of the MEPs of this information group is Ulrike Lunacek, an Austrian Green who is on the record as consistently supporting Azerbaijan\u2019s territorial integrity and demanding the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories. Yet Lunacek is also one of the most insulted and verbally abused, invariably in connection to her sexual orientation. This shows how much the regime\u2019s hired guns really \u2018care\u2019 about Nagorno Karabakh.<\/p>\n

\u2018The charge of Islamophobia is even more ridiculous. The pro-human rights MEPs often come from left-leaning and liberal groups. Those are the very people who advocate for multilateralism and diversity. They fight Islamophobia, not promote it. The regime\u2019s propagandists don\u2019t even realise how inconsistent they sound: they promote Azerbaijan as a pillar of secularism, yet at the same time use the religious factor<\/a> when lashing out at their perceived enemies\u2014by accusing them of being Islamophobes,\u2019 comments the EU observer.<\/p>\n

Golunov writes that, in the case of Russia, the heavy reliance on conspiracy theories succeeded thanks to the \u2018regime\u2019s overwhelming information superiority\u2019. In Azerbaijan, while there are many critics of the government who can read between the lines, the public at large remains unaware of the real situation and often gets sucked into the very heart of the conspiratorial rhetoric. And as freedom of expression disappears, it becomes much easier for the regime to sell its argument.<\/p>\n

What is left is only a glimpse of hope that, amid the information blockade, some will be able to see right from wrong. They may then start questioning how a supposed and shadowy \u2018Armenian lobby\u2019 became such a powerful influence in Azerbaijan in the first place.<\/p>\n

*Arzu Geybulla is a freelance writer originally from Azerbaijan currently based in Istanbul. She reports on human rights violations in Azerbaijan.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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