BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 8. Azerbaijan’s parliament has rejected the allegations contained in the European Parliament’s October 8 resolution on human rights and freedoms in Azerbaijan, describing the document as a biased political action.
The Azerbaijani parliament made the remarks in its response to the European Parliament’s resolution.
The parliament said the European Parliament’s targeted political approach toward Azerbaijan had become more confrontational following the Second Karabakh War. It said resolutions adopted in recent years, along with calls for political pressure and sanctions against Azerbaijan, demonstrated that the organization had failed to accept what it described as the new geopolitical realities in the South Caucasus.
The response also criticized the European Parliament for seeking to determine the scope of authority of Azerbaijan’s state bodies, issue instructions to law enforcement and judicial institutions, and set political conditions for bilateral relations. According to the parliament, this raises questions about whether the European Parliament seeks to build relations with Azerbaijan based on equality, mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs.
The parliament also referred to issues of corruption and illicit lobbying influence within the European Parliament, stressing the importance of the organization consistently applying its own standards.
The response further said that the European Parliament applies double standards in its approach to human rights. It noted that while resolutions are adopted concerning Azerbaijan, European countries themselves continue to face problems related to police violence, restrictions on freedom of peaceful assembly and accountability for human rights violations.
The parliament said the adoption of the resolution at a time when the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace agenda is advancing was also a matter of concern. It said unilateral initiatives and what it described as misguided assessments make it more difficult to build an environment of mutual trust and create additional obstacles to normalizing relations.
The response also highlighted what the parliament described as a contradiction between the European Parliament’s call to restore cooperation with the Azerbaijani parliament and its adoption of documents that create interparliamentary tensions. The parliament said restoring trust requires abandoning confrontational rhetoric and recognizing the equal nature of interparliamentary relations.
The Azerbaijani parliament said the country remains committed to protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, ensuring the rule of law and implementing the principles of a state governed by law.
The response also said that, while making allegations against Azerbaijan, the European Parliament remained silent about the rights of Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons who, according to the parliament, were subjected to ethnic cleansing and other serious human rights violations during Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territory.
The Azerbaijani parliament called on the European Parliament to abandon what it described as confrontational rhetoric toward Azerbaijan and refrain from interfering in the country’s internal affairs.
The parliament stated that no force can divert Azerbaijan from its path of democratic development.
