Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BAKU1230
2007-10-10 11:41:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Baku
Cable title:  

COORDINATING OUR DEMOCRACY MESSAGE IN AZERBAIJAN

Tags:  PREL PGOV KDEM PHUM AJ 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKB #1230/01 2831141
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 101141Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY BAKU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4025
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 2398
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0697
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0699
C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 001230 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM PHUM AJ
SUBJECT: COORDINATING OUR DEMOCRACY MESSAGE IN AZERBAIJAN

REF: A. BAKU 758

B. BAKU 953

C. BAKU 783

D. BAKU 689

Classified By: Ambassador Anne E. Derse per 1.4 (b,d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 001230

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM PHUM AJ
SUBJECT: COORDINATING OUR DEMOCRACY MESSAGE IN AZERBAIJAN

REF: A. BAKU 758

B. BAKU 953

C. BAKU 783

D. BAKU 689

Classified By: Ambassador Anne E. Derse per 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) Summary: On October 5, the Ambassador convened a
group of like-minded ambassadors to discuss coordination of
our democracy strategies in the run-up to Azerbaijan's 2008
presidential election. The EU will issue its first progress
report on Azerbaijan's EU Action Plan in April 2008, and the
UK Ambassador stressed that this could serve as a positive
incentive. The Ambassadors agreed to seek guidance from
their capitals on a joint political approach in the run-up to
the 2008 election, focused on specific steps the
international community recommends Azerbaijan take on media
freedom, freedom of assembly, electoral reform, and civil
society. They also agreed to pursue the international
community's dialogue on media issues with Presidential
Political Advisor Ali Hasanov and to solicit the engagement
of a broader group of non-Western democracies and new EU
member states in their future discussions. The OSCE
separately plans to present its ideas on election-related
issues to Presidential Chief of Staff Ramiz Mehdiyev, an
initiative Ambassador Derse suggested should be coordinated
with key like-minded member states. End summary.


2. (SBU) On October 5, the Ambassador hosted a working lunch
with Ambassadors from like-minded diplomatic missions to
discuss coordination of our democracy strategies in the
run-up to Azerbaijan's October 2008 presidential election.
Ambassadors from the OSCE, Council of Europe, France
(representing the Portuguese EU Presidency),Greece, Israel,
Italy, Latvia, Norway and the UK were present; Ambassadors
from UNDP, Germany, Poland and Turkey were unable to attend
due to scheduling conflicts but requested that they be
included in future discussions. Several Ambassadors
suggested that the group be widened to include non-European
democracies, such as India, Japan and South Korea, as well as
new EU members Bulgaria and Romania.


3. (C) The EU Ambassadors welcomed the U.S. initiative to

coordinate our strategies on democracy and human rights
issues. The Latvian Ambassador noted that previous EU
attempts to raise democracy and human rights issues with the
GOAJ had not been successful. Under the German EU
Presidency, for example, the EU Ambassadors had delivered a
strong demarche on press freedom in June, yet the GOAJ had
not yet provided any response to their concerns. The UK
Ambassador noted her concern that Azerbaijan's growing
confidence, fueled by oil wealth, may be behind its lack of
receptivity to the EU's human rights concerns. As Foreign
Minister Mammadyarov recently told the UK Ambassador, "My
President said that 'we need to become stronger, then they
will respect us.'" She also noted that the GOAJ had ignored
the international community's separate demarche on media
issues, made to Presidential Chief of Staff Ramiz Mehdiyev in
June (ref a). The OSCE Ambassador said that, in order to
succeed, it is critical that the international community
present its human rights and democracy concerns in a
collaborative, rather than confrontational way, a point that
all of the Ambassadors supported. The Ambassadors also
agreed that this message should be delivered in private,
rather than public channels, to be most effective.


4. (C) Several of the Ambassadors agreed that the GOAJ
increasingly seemed to believe that it was not getting a fair
shake on its democracy and human rights record (refs b-d).
The UK Ambassador noted that, when the Duke of York raised
human rights concerns during his October 1 visit to Baku,
President Aliyev told him that "Even if I stood on my head,
the West wouldn't declare our elections free and fair," a
point he has made to USG interlocutors. The Norwegian
Ambassador added that Foreign Minister Mammadyarov had
recently told the Norwegian Foreign Minister that the Council
of Europe simply doesn't understand Azerbaijan.


5. (C) The EU Ambassadors noted that Azerbaijan's EU Action
Plan could serve as an effective tool for addressing
Azerbaijan's human rights situation. An EC delegation led by
DG RELEX's Gunnar Weigand was recently in Azerbaijan to
prepare for the upcoming October 16 Cooperation Council
meeting, in which Solana will meet Azerbaijani FM
Mammadyarov. The Commission will issue its first-ever
progress report on Azerbaijan's EU Action Plan in April 2008,
and it is already clear that Azerbaijan's report will be
worse than Armenia's. (All three South Caucasus countries
signed EU Action Plans in November 2006.) The Greek
Ambassador, however, questioned the utility of the Action
Plan in addressing Azerbaijan's human rights situation,
questioning whether the EU would act with any real
consequences -- i.e., suspension -- for Azerbaijan's poor
performance. Agreeing that the EU would not choose to
suspend Azerbaijan's action plan, the UK Ambassador argued
that the action plan was nevertheless a positive incentive,
meant to move the EU-Azerbaijan relationship forward. The
Israeli Ambassador questioned whether the GOAJ took the EU
Action Plan seriously, recounting how the GOAJ had declined
Israel's offer to provide technical assistance as Azerbaijan
negotiated its EU Action Plan, telling him that the plan was
"not that important."


6. (C) The ambassadors agreed that the international
community should engage Azerbaijan on democracy and human
rights issues with a unified voice to be most effective. The
ambassadors also agreed that the upcoming 2008 presidential
election presented a good opportunity to work with the GOAJ
to encourage "the freest and fairest elections in
Azerbaijan's history," a goal specified in the Council of
Europe's March 27, 2005 resolution on Azerbaijan's
implementation of its COE commitments. Building on democracy
and governance assistance coordination meetings chaired
recently by the OSCE, the ambassadors agreed that the key
areas to be addressed at the political level in the run-up to
the election were: media freedom, freedom of assembly,
electoral reform, and civil society. The ambassadors agreed
to consult their capitals on particular points that should be
made in the run-up to the election. They agreed that the
international community should pursue its dialogue on media
issues with Presidential Political Advisor Ali Hasanov, led
by the OSCE and the COE (reftel). They also agreed to
include a broader group of non-Western democracies and new EU
member states in their future discussions, and the Israeli
Ambassador offered to chair the next meeting of this broader
group after the OSCE-led follow-up discussion with Hasanov.
Ambassador Derse added that the international community
should look for opportunities to raise these issues in other
venues, such as high-level visits.


7. (C) The OSCE Ambassador noted that, in addition to this
broader international effort on democracy and human rights
issues, he was working on a separate approach to the GOAJ to
lay out the OSCE Office in Baku's views on the steps needed
to achieve a free and fair election. The OSCE Ambassador
stressed that this was an initiative of the Baku Office and
did not require OSCE Member States' approval. (The OSCE
Ambassador has repeatedly expressed his private concerns that
the OSCE not be seen by the Russians as overstepping its
mandate in Baku, as well as his concern that Russia not quash
OSCE work on "human dimension" issues here.) Ambassador
Derse noted that it would be useful for the OSCE Office in
Baku to coordinate its message with key like-minded member
states, to ensure that the GOAJ received a clear message
about the 2008 election.


8. (C) Comment: All of the ambassadors agreed that their
countries' strategic interests in Azerbaijan depend on the
long-term stability that only democratic reform can bring.
The ambassadors also agreed that the upcoming 2008
presidential election presents an opportunity to work
together for constructive change, but noted that Azerbaijan's
increasing confidence could make it more difficult to make
progress in some of the more contentious areas. In our view,
the GOAJ's increasing confidence and, in some cases,
increasing resistance to external policy prescriptives, make
it even more essential that the international community
coordinate its diplomatic efforts and speak with a unified
voice. We have shared our ideas for a joint approach on the
2008 elections via email with the Department, and look
forward to the Department's guidance.
DERSE