With Baku now taking over the chairmanship of the Council of Europe, U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Morningstar talked to Khadija Ismayilova from RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service about what the Caucasus country could achieve at the helm of the human rights body. He also discussed other pertinent issues, such as Nagorno-Karabakh and possible fallout from the ongoing Ukraine crisis.

What would you call the success rate within the six months of [Azerbaijan’s] chairmanship [of the Council of Europe]?  What would happen to let you tell that it was successful?

Richard Morningstar: Well, there are trials that are going on now — and appeals. We’ve certainly been troubled by some of those trials — some of the verdicts have not been reached. I think fair results with respect to some of those trials and appeals would show progress. I think that fewer attacks on journalists during the period would show progress. I think the reopening of the civil society dialogue would show progress.

A couple years ago, after one of [U. S. Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton’s visits, the government agreed to hold a civil society dialogue. I think there was one session and there has not been one since then. I think that would help. There seems to be a huge amount of pressure right now on international NGOs that are working with respect to civil society — investigations by the Tax Ministry, by the Justice Ministry…

Again, I don’t understand why these investigations are taking place other than to harass these organizations and the people who work for them. Lightening up on that, I think, would show progress. Freedom of assembly is part of the action plan. There was some freedom of assembly during the elections. Hopefully there will be less problems as far as that goes…

Are there countries where the United States is able to do more and this is just the reality for Azerbaijan?

Morningstar: It’s hard for me to compare Azerbaijan to what we are doing in other countries because I am not directly involved in those countries. There are clearly problems here. I think there are worse countries. This is clearly not the worst country, but there are plenty of countries that are doing better.

And one of the things that the government needs to consider is that — what makes Azerbaijan somewhat different from some of the other countries — Azerbaijan presents itself as a democracy. And there are worse countries. I want to be totally clear on that. But if Azerbaijan is presenting itself as a democracy, than it means to me that Azerbaijan has the responsibility to ensure that some of the things that have been happening here don’t take place.

Ismayilova and Morningstar then discussed a recent satirical sketch in Azerbaijan that poked fun at some the diplomatic language — such as the word «concerned» — which the United States has used to describe the human rights situation in the Caucasus country.  

Morningstar: I would ask you: What words are we supposed to use?  Am I supposed to say, «Azerbaijan is a horrible place for doing these terrible unacceptable things, and it is going to ruin the relationship with the United States!» Is that what I’m supposed to say?  I think that we do a good job at making clear how — I want to say «concerned!» — how deeply disturbed we are by the events that are taking place, and we make it very clear to the government. And I think, incrementally, we’ve done some good with respect to certain cases.

At the same time, I don’t think it is in Azerbaijan’s interest or in its civil society’s interest or individual Azerbaijanis’ interest that we say, «We don’t like what you are doing, so we are going to walk away from Azerbaijan,» or, «We are going to make things so difficult for you on the human rights questions that we recognize that we aren’t just going to be able to deal with you.» I think that would be bad for Azerbaijan. Who else is going to speak up for Azerbaijan sovereignty and independence vis-a-vis Russia — particularly after Ukraine?  Who else is going to be a buffer to make sure that the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations are fair or don’t go in an unfairly bad direction. Who else is going to work with Azerbaijan on…counterterrorism problems?

I know that people think we care too much about energy. Yeah, we care about energy, but we are not going to see any Azerbaijani oil or gas — but we do think it’s important as a counter to Russian monopolization in some places. If we just didn’t care and walked away, I don’t think that would be very helpful either. There has to be some kind of balance. I know that many — yourself included — wish that we would do more, but we do the best we can under the circumstances and I think we have actually spoken out more in the last couple of years than ever has been the case in the past on human rights issues.

http://www.rferl.org/content/azerbaijan-interview-us-ambassador-morningstar/25391516.html