In an interview with Bakinskiy Rabochiy, Farid Shafiyev, chairman of the Board of the Center of Analysis of International Relations of Azerbaijan (AirCenter), discussed the upcoming COP-29 climate summit in Baku and addressed the ongoing attempts by pro-Armenian forces and certain Western organizations to pressure Azerbaijan under the pretext of human rights concerns.
– As you know, recently 60 pro-Armenian U.S. congressmen appealed to the U.S. government, calling for new sanctions against Azerbaijan. Although the appeal is addressed to the U.S. Secretary of State, there is a belief that it was essentially drafted within the State Department itself. What is the U.S. foreign policy department trying to achieve with this?
– In my opinion, several factors are at play here. First and foremost, it’s the influence of the Armenian lobby, whose goal is to undermine U.S.-Azerbaijan relations. These relations had already suffered some time ago due to the revival of Section 907. Against this backdrop, American Armenians are pushing for further deterioration of relations between the U.S. and Azerbaijan. Many of the congressmen who signed this appeal are known as Armenian lobbyists.
As for the State Department, its actions often exhibit a certain duality. For example, Secretary of State Blinken tries to pursue a more balanced policy regarding the South Caucasus, for various reasons. However, there are certain pro-Armenian hawks within the State Department itself. This is evidenced by anti-Azerbaijan actions by various U.S. structures to some extent linked to the State Department. For instance, in January this year, the Office of International Religious Freedom issued a report that completely ignored the state of Azerbaijani religious sites in the Karabakh region, including destroyed mosques there and in Armenia. Overall, it was a very biased report against our country.
Of course, one could ignore this report, as the mentioned office is not an official U.S. government body. However, the U.S. State Department, based on this report, added Azerbaijan to the list of countries with serious restrictions on religious freedoms. This shows that forces working against Baku in favor of the Armenian lobby are present there. At the same time, I’m not sure that this is done in favor of Armenia. First, as we know, part of the Armenian lobby has strained relations with the Pashinyan government. Second, by antagonizing Azerbaijan within the context of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, it is clear that peace and stability in the South Caucasus will not be achieved. This is exactly what the Armenian lobby is aiming for. Congressmen, on the other hand, care little about peace and development in the South Caucasus—they care more about financial support from the Armenian lobby and Armenian voters.
– With regard to the upcoming COP29 climate summit in Baku, some Western organizations are trying to increase pressure on Azerbaijan, citing alleged “serious problems” with human rights and democracy. Organizations like Human Rights Watch and Freedom House are calling on the European Union and other international bodies to exert pressure on Azerbaijan over the issue of “political prisoners,” using the Baku summit as a pretext. Some European countries, particularly the Netherlands, have joined this chorus of criticism. What is the goal of this criticism?
– It must be said that this is not the first time such a campaign has been organized when Azerbaijan is about to host a major event. Unfortunately, Armenians often participate in these campaigns. For instance, a recent article was published in Politico, where the author cites an Armenian diplomat claiming that Yerevan should use COP-29 to pressure Baku. The irony here is that COP-29 is being held in Azerbaijan in part thanks to Armenia. It was an exchange between the countries: Yerevan agreed to the summit in Azerbaijan, and in return, Baku supported Armenia’s election to a UN body. Perhaps Azerbaijan could have won the competition to host COP-29 even without Armenia’s consent. But in this case, Yerevan gave its approval, and now we see the double game being played by the Armenian leadership—agreeing on the one hand to hold COP-29 in Baku, while on the other hand trying to use the event against Azerbaijan.
As for Freedom House, it’s an organization that engages in blatant anti-Azerbaijani propaganda. Regarding Human Rights Watch, I would note that some of their past reports were more balanced concerning the South Caucasus, including the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, such as their report on Khojaly. However, now the organization’s main goal is a media and diplomatic attack on Azerbaijan, having discarded any attempt at balance. The aim of these organizations is clear and quite simplistic—to achieve results through pressure. But pressure won’t solve anything when it comes to Azerbaijan. On the contrary, if they had spoken to us in a positive manner, as was done during the COP-29 negotiations, Armenia and those Western countries supporting Yerevan could have achieved more. What they are doing now will not lead to anything good. Moreover, this is the position of only 5-6 countries, not the entire global community. Therefore, I am confident that the majority of the world’s nations will be represented at COP-29 at the highest level.
– Interestingly, there was much talk earlier about a peace agreement possibly being signed in the run-up to or even during COP-29. But now, such discussions have ceased, and instead, official Yerevan has begun to criticize the holding of COP-29 in Baku. Why?
– I believe this isn’t even an Armenian idea, but rather the idea of those behind Armenia who use it in their interests. In my view, what is happening in the South Caucasus right now has little to do with Armenia. Look at Georgia—it has already become a geopolitical battleground for the major powers in the context of relations between Russia and the West. Some global players believe that creating a positive atmosphere in the region is not in their interest. They are more interested in escalating tensions to force the countries of the region to make a serious geostrategic choice. By the way, these actors have the naive notion that Armenia will turn away from Russia and move toward the West. But that’s not happening. On the contrary, trade turnover between these countries has risen to an astronomical sum—from $2 billion before the war to $14 billion currently. It’s clear what caused this sharp increase. Meanwhile, when Pashinyan meets with Putin, the West remains silent, but when Aliyev meets with Putin, the media immediately causes an uproar.
Returning to your question about signing peace before COP-29, indeed, Armenia and the countries supporting it pushed for the signing of a half-hearted peace agreement before COP-29. We, too, would like to achieve peace before the start of this major event, but we want to sign a comprehensive peace agreement that addresses all problematic issues. We are not going to sign a peace agreement just for the sake of having something signed by a certain date. Unfortunately, the document is not yet ready. Several very important issues, including those related to Armenia’s constitution, have not been agreed upon. But they are trying to force us to sign, using crude pressure tactics. Meanwhile, an interesting struggle is unfolding, in which official Yerevan is not directly involved. Instead, it’s being led by the Armenian diaspora and third countries, such as France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. This policy by the Armenian authorities seems naive because it’s clear to everyone that such steps wouldn’t have been taken without Yerevan’s consent.
Frankly, I don’t believe that Pashinyan will participate in COP-29, as that would immediately give Baku the opportunity to use the COP-29 platform as a peace forum. Armenia’s goal, on the other hand, is to undermine COP-29. They are completely ignoring the fact that COP-29 is not just about Azerbaijan—our country is merely the host of this event. COP-29 addresses critical climate issues, and Azerbaijan’s role in global atmospheric pollution is negligible. Specifically, our country’s contribution to atmospheric pollution is 0.1%. This is truly a laughable figure compared to other countries. Therefore, COP-29 is an excellent platform for discussing the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, not for focusing on Azerbaijan itself.
Translated from Bakinskiy Rabochiy
