Baku to the future: the whitewash of a regime

The first European Games has begun in Baku. But while Azerbaijan welcomes athletes, sponsors and spectators from around the world, it is keeping the door firmly closed on critical journalists and human rights groups.

At least two journalists have been denied entry into the country, as have representives of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

Energy rich Azerbaijan is fast growing economy but also one of the world's most hostile places for journalists.

Following Ilham Aliyev's government began a clampdown on independent media outlets last year, free press has been almost completely silenced.

Reporters Without Borders placed Azerbaijan 162nd out of 180 in its world press freedom index.

However, with $9 billion budget for the games, the sporting spectable will be the abiding image of Azerbaijan for the viewers back home.

Cultural crossroads

Sandwiched between Asia and Europe, Azerbaijan is a Muslim majority country but outwardly secular.

Baku's hosting of the European Song Contest and European Games show that Azerbaijan is keen to reach out to its European neighbours.  

The EU appears keen to welcome Azerbaijan into the fold as Russia tries to expand its influence in eastern Europe.

The country occupies a hugely important strategic location - next to Iran, Russia and Central Asia - and sits on huge energy reserves. Critics say this explains the silence.

BP is one of the offical sponsors for the European Games and also the biggest foreign investor Azerbaijan.

The company did not want to comment on the Azerbaijan regime's silencing of its critics but did issue a statement. 

It said that when human rights abuses take place in countries where BP operate, it is not considered that it their duty to influence how states "protect, respect and fulfil human rights" if it does not directly affect them.

BP added that they have been a major created jobs, generated tax and major investments such as the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan and the South Caucus pipelines.

Gagging the press

Azerbaijan is Europe's biggest jailer of media personel, with 12 journalists behind bars.

There are no independent television stations, and two independent media outlets were closed during a crackdown on journalists last year. The remaining two are being financially crippled and look set to close soon.

One of the Azerbaijan's most respected investigative journalists, Khadija Ismayilova, has been in custody since December 2014.

She had reported on several corruption cases involving the Aliyev family and was arrested on charges of inciting a colleague to commit suicide.

The co-worker later admitted that they were forced into filing the case against her, but she remained in prison on trumped up corruption charges.

"The truth is that Azerbaijan is in the midst of a human rights crisis. Things have never been worse," said Ismayilova in a letter she smuggled out of prison to PEN on the eve of the games.

The only reason why the regime feels it can clampdown on independent media is because it feels it can. Johann Bihr, Reporters Without Borders

Johann Bihr, of Reporters Without Borders, describes the situation for journalists in Azerbaijan as "abysmal".

"For nearly two years, authorities have brutally closed down the limited space there was for independent reporting in Azerbaijan. Last summer, nearly all the remaining ones were closed down," he said.

Bihr blames the silence of EU governments and foreign companies operating in the Azerbaijan for allowing Aliyev to expand his powers to almost totalitarian excess.

"The only reason why the regime feels it can clampdown on independent media is because it feels it can," Bihr adds.

Oil boom

After double percentage growth in recent years, the government feels more secure than ever, but much like Vladamir Putin in Russia he has used this stability to suppress opposition.

Bihr believes that the situation for activists in Azerbaijan is far worse than for those in Russia. There are more than 100 political prisoners in Azeri jails, but still Europe's relationship with Baku grows.

"The government know that they are important strategically and economically to Europe," he said.

Sport has been an important propoganda tool for authoritian regimes in the past and the European Games is no exception, says Emma Hughes of the Platform oil watchdog.

On Tuesday, Hughes was held for 12 hours by security officers after she landed at Baku airport. She was told that she was on a security list and sent back to London.

No reason was given why but she suspects that it is due to her work with oil watchdog.

"BP has been supporting and enabling the regime since it signed a contract in 1994 to extract oil. The money from oil has gone into straight into into [Aliyev] family's coffers," she said.

She says that BP have been training staff to host the European Games, and now the regime has its eyes on 2022 Olympics.

"It want to show to the world the glamour of the Azerbaijan and hide its abuses," she said.

Although most EU countries have been silent about Azerbaijan's human rights abuses Hughes says the UK has been the most compliant to the regime.

Private Eye reported on a number of British MPs who are part of the European Azerbaijan Society, which is helping present the regime in a favourable light.

Repeated calls for BP to use its access to the president have been ignored, she says, and the conditions for journalists and activists is just getting worse.

"This [relationship] is helping the regime be entrenched into power and the extraction of fossel fuels is supressing free speech," she said. "This legitimises the regime's actions."
 
The media covering the games will also be doing their part in helping Aliyev show viewers in Europe the best of the country, while its journalists continue to suffer.