Azerbaijan looks forward to 2015 after year of ‘attacks and resolutions’ by European Parliament

A senior Azerbaijani MP has urged the European Parliament to make a "fresh start" with the country in the coming 12 months.

Independent MP Elkhan Suleymanov (pictured, centre) hopes for a better relationship with the Parliament in 2015 after a year of what he calls “attacks, resolutions and declarations” against his country.

Suleymanov is a senior member of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, a parliamentary forum to promote political association and further economic integration between the EU and its eastern European neighbours.

It includes MEPs and MPs from Azerbaijan as well as Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia and Georgia.

Suleymanov, who heads  the delegation, said throughout 2014 Azerbaijan has effectively been "punished" for its "positive" engagement with Europe through the EU's Eastern Partnership Initiative.

While he believes Azerbaijan has been singled out for criticism, rival Armenia chooses to “abandon ties with the EU” by joining the Russian-led Eurasian Customs Unions.

For this, Suleymanov said, Armenia has been"rewarded with even more EU funding" and the "privilege" of hosting the next Euronest plenary session in Yerevan next year, a meeting that Azerbaijan will boycott.

In an open letter to the European Parliament Conference of Presidents, or political group leaders, he said these factors “casts a shadow over the whole European Parliament” throughout 2014.

Suleymanov is urging the European Parliament for a "fresh start" in 2015 and asks that it "respects" Azerbaijani legal standards in the coming year, something he believes has not been observed in 2014.

He said the Parliament's resolution calling for the release of accused fraudster and Sakharov Prize nominee Leyla Yunus “disrespects judgments of the (Azerbaijani) courts” given she is midway through a serious treason and corruption case.

He believes such calls for her release would not be made if she was embroiled in a similar criminal case in an EU nation.

“Could any prominent public and political figure demand to release a person, who is investigated in the European zone?” he asked. “Certainly, the reaction would be negative. Then why do you apply this model to Azerbaijan?”

Likewise, he said, there have been "manifest contradictions" by the Parliament over what constitutes “international legal standards”.

While there has been concern – and resolutions – in support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity in the face of Russian-sponsored "aggression," there has been no discussion of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity with regards to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories.

Despite the fact that the Armenian invasion more than two decades ago and the continued occupation has been deemed unlawful by a number of international organizations, including the United Nations Security Council and the European Parliament, such bodies are still reluctant to call to account the "aggressor state".

“The Azerbaijani people demand from the European Union to show the same level of support for Azerbaijan, the 20% territory which is under occupation for over 23 years, as it has for Ukraine today,” Suleymanov said in his open letter.

But despite these concerns, Suleymanov and his delegation remain positive about 2015. He hopes that Azerbaijan’s relationship with the Parliament can grow in 2015 and that it will “present an objective face towards Azerbaijan” throughout the coming year.

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