Eldar Zeynalov is Director of the Azerbaijan Human Rights Center.
In 1993 the democrats restored censorship, and I, as a collaborator of the so-called “independent” Akhabar-Service News Agency, encountered certain difficulties. I was fired after pressure from the Presidents administration. Elchibey threatened to close our agency, unless I ceased publishing materials about Karabakh and the regions populated densely with Lezgins.
Azerbaijan endured an extraordinary situation at that time. Thus, I had the free time as well as great willingness to change my episodic Human Rights activity into a more permanent endeavor. So I joined with my fellow Human Rights activists and established something we called a Human Rights Center, which had as its primary goal avoiding censorship and acquiring free information. At that time we outlined the main principles, which were the base of our activity.
1. Not fall into the grind. Our main task is monitoring, which is necessary today.
2. Networking, extending not the information itself, but the impact of information sources.
HA — Please explain your views on the war in Karabakh.
E.Z. If we examine the chain of international conflicts in the former Soviet Union, we see that many of them remain cold or hot, and some of them escalated.
The hot conflict points are those in which the interests of Russia and West collided. Pridnestrovie, Chechnya, and Lithuania. But Karabakh is still uncertain. Immediately when Azerbaijan tried to demonstrate its interest in the area, it was shown its place. Armenia first began this particular game with its declaration of independence. What price Armenia paid, I don't know. Afterwards, Armenia got oriented properly. Azerbaijan refused to join the CIS until the end of 1993, and immediately after, the war lasted a little more mechanically and then ceased. But if the problem of the Caspian was solved, Russia's share increased or the relations with Americans cut off entirely, then progress might be achieved. The resolution of the Karabakh conflict still isn't final.
HA — What is the current Human Rights situation in Azerbaijan?
E.Z. Bad. We still have the same post-Soviet territory, the same post-Soviet standards, and the same KGB system. I personally suppose that Human Rights situation will not improve substantially in the next several years. Today it is the State that violates Human Rights, like everywhere else, simply because the officials’ system failed to reform the standards of the former Soviet government. The Azerbaijan Soviet official often makes efforts to comply with western standards.
HA — Was there more democracy during Elchibey's or Aliyev's reign?
E.Z. It depends on what you call democracy. If you mean Human Rights, then they were violated both by Elchibey's government and by Aliyev's. At that time, after the demonstrations, after our hopes for democracy had failed, it became obvious that the neo-Bolsheviks had arrived. Although Elchibey's government, undoubtedly, was very close to the idea of democracy, he didn't use the opportunity he had. One of the main causes for the return of the old men, or Soviets, to power was the appearance of powerful leader with an idiotic conservative-nationalistic position, which destroys all efforts to build democracy. In the chaos that usually results from this situation, a neo-Bolshevik “old uncle” shows up and guarantees stability and peace, and everything seems to take its proper place.
HA — If neither Elchibey nor Aliyev represented the hopes you had, then who would? Who would you work for as ombudsman?
E.Z. There are many that are willing to work with me, but I personally can't identify anyone I would want to work with. I don't suffer the Kovalyov syndrome at all. When a Human Right activist gets involved in politics and tries to solve problems in concert with the executive branch, he soon learns that attempting to do so is ultimately futile. Once, American diplomats visited us, and they said that having an ombudsman was very necessary to Azerbaijan. I asked them, AWhere could you find one who would be supported by the President?” They answered, “Never mind, we will find one in the Parliament.” But do you remember how quickly foreign observers were thrown out of Parliament when the votes were counted? And now these same foreigners are willing to work with the administration that tossed them out?
HA — Could Azerbaijan become a member of the European Council?
E.Z. I am against it. Some Human Rights activists and I disagree on this issue. They are of the opinion that if we join the European Council, Azerbaijan will become open to Council pressure to resolve its Human Rights problems. I don't believe this at all. Occasionally, I ask European Council representatives: Azerbaijan signed almost all of the United Nations agreements on Human Rights but and has shown no interest in implementing them, so why do you think that the European Council/s agreements will be implemented? You insist that you have institutions that operate effectively. If this is the case, why didn't you apply European Council pressure in the case of Chechnya? You tolerated Russia's Human Rights abuses there because it has a powerful “red button’, but you did issue sanctions against Belarus when it dispersed opposition meetings.” Until I clarify this question will be against Azerbaijan joining the European Council.
HA — Which Human Rights are most often violated in Azerbaijan?
E.Z. We had better talk about those that are not violated.
HA — In that case, which Human Rights are not violated in Azerbaijan?
E.Z. Only the rights of one person, who we can name. Our bureaucracy, always conscious of demagoguery and “slander”, forces us to be discrete. Since the first day of independence we faced police officers who are willing to act on any arbitrary grounds. Whenever an expert of the European Council arrives and remarks that there are European and Azerbaijani legislation somehow “‘disagrees’’, a President's decree, fully supported by the Parliament, appears to modify our laws. This always takes place simply to convince the West to think, “Azerbaijan is mature now.”
HA — Does that mean that it is thoroughly the West's fault?
E.Z. The West itself is not such a bad example for us to follow. Our mentality, a Soviet mentality, is the problem. Do you remember the movie, “White Sun of the Desert”, where the women of the harem hide their faces, while the rest of their bodies are naked? It's the same with Human Rights in Azerbaijan. The face, by which I mean the President, is always hidden, but the rest is bare. The whole world looks apathetically, and everything is hinged on one stupid idea: stability at any price. The mentality is that the leader is inviolable. Until the next generation of leadership arrives, no changes are expected with democracy and Human Rights in Azerbaijan.
Armenian Helsinki Association's Bulletin, 1998-1999, pp.82-85.
