Sometimes, the world has a short-term memory, and often enough, politics have proven how quickly things are forgotten when new interests arise or old interests reemerge. An excellent example is how quickly Azerbaijan's political leadership went from being condemned by many in the international community for its military activities and human rights violations to being a valuable partner once more.
The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—commonly known as the most important global climate conference—has recently been concluded, and left many disappointed. COP29 in Baku was intended to be a conference about climate finance; to help poorer (and strongly affected) countries to protect their populations and to decarbonize. New financial goals were meant to be set to address the climate crisis together. The expectations and hopes of many developing nations were not met. Rich Western countries that are among the biggest CO2 polluters are not delivering the amount of climate finance that is needed.
While these results are obviously very important, most seem to forget the event with which this COP started, namely the opening speech by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev. When quoted, it is mainly his statement of oil being a “gift from god” and Western actors criticizing Azerbaijan for its reliance on oil being an act of hypocrisy that is in focus. With COP29 being first and foremost a climate conference, Azerbaijan's leaders’ concern with fossil fuels is understandable. However, I had the impression that—in the shadows of the climate discussion—much else of this opening speech did not receive the attention it should.
Instead of accusing Azerbaijan of having oil, Aliyev says that “[c]ountries should be judged by other criteria” and lists levels of unemployment, levels of poverty, and the management of foreign debt as positive examples to judge a country by. Apparently, guaranteeing political freedom and other human rights are not among these criteria which is unsurprising considering the amount of Azerbaijani journalists, government critics, human rights defenders and environmental activists being detained, imprisoned, or forced into exile which further increased in the months leading up to COP29. The space for civil society and expressing differing opinions is shrinking in front of the eyes of the world and, while there have been occasional reports on the issue prior to COP29, it did not seem to have any relevance during or since the conference. Has the world already forgotten?
The topic I saw appearing the least in reports, which Aliyev however clearly addressed in his opening speech, was Azerbaijan's military activities approximately 14 months ago: “Four years ago, we celebrated the historical Victory in the Second Karabakh War. A year ago, we fully restored our sovereignty in accordance with the UN Charter, international law, and UN Security Council resolutions.”
What Aliyev calls a victory is a bloody war with hundreds of deaths and thousands of injured people on all sides in 2020. Last year’s “restoration” was a military offensive against the self-declared and then de facto independent (but de jure Azerbaijani) region Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh in 2023 with 100,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing in fear of persecution.
After Azerbaijan's military offensive on September 19-20, 2023, various representatives of, for instance, the European Union condemned this military operation. However, only three months later in December 2023, Azerbaijan was given the presidency for COP29. While it was criticized for having once again a petrostate with bad human rights records as its host, the rotation principle of hosting the COP and geopolitical standings left little alternatives. Therefore, despite the recent military activities, Azerbaijan's government received an opportunity to gain more political legitimacy on the world stage. Aliyev knows that, saying that he has “bad news” for the critics: “We have 72,000 registered participants from 196 countries. Among them are 80 presidents, vice presidents, and prime ministers. So, the world has gathered in Baku, and we say to the world: Welcome to Azerbaijan.”
All criticisms concerning the selection of Azerbaijan as host were described as a disinformation campaign by “Western fake news media, so-called independent NGOs, and some politicians” in Aliyev's for a COP unusually harsh opening speech. I wonder why I did not notice high-level politicians or big media daring to address other issues. Is it due to diplomatic politeness, the need for continued cooperation in climate matters, or a guilty conscience concerning the alleged hypocrisy?
No matter the reason, very quickly, Azerbaijan was again described as an “important partner,” for instance, by Germany’s chancellor Scholz who highlighted the importance of both countries' cooperation despite the need for improvement of Azerbaijan's human rights situation. The cooperation mainly concerns Azerbaijan's role as an alternative energy provider to Russia. In his COP opening speech, Aliyev made it clear that he is aware of Europe's need for energy.
For a long time, climate activists have criticized how Europe is making itself dependent on petrol states and willingly turns a blind eye to their human rights violations. This also seems to be the case here. The need for fossil fuels from Azerbaijan as well as the (re)appearance of other military conflicts let the world quickly forget about its short outcry after the attack on September 19, 2023 against Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh. Aliyev makes a good point when he accuses the Western world of hypocrisy. This matter is where it is visible to me.
Azerbaijan's leader has not forgotten, and Aliyev boldly reminded the world of the incident: “A year ago, we fully restored our sovereignty in accordance with the UN Charter, international law, and UN Security Council resolutions, which had remained on paper for 30 years. We implemented these resolutions ourselves.” Admittedly, Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan's territory by international law. Nevertheless, the treatment of the population of the area (blockade of goods, military attacks despite the presence of peacekeepers, etc.) has been viewed widely as inhumane. The argument that Azerbaijan simply implemented UN resolutions using its own military power, which seemingly remains without a wider reaction, will surely be noted by some and may resurface in different contexts in the future. Not everyone will forget how Azerbaijan has acted and how the world reacted, even though it seems so right at the moment.
Written by Nina K.
Cover photo by The Presidential Press and Information Office of Azerbaijan (CC BY 4.0).