İnterview with Christopher Walker, director of studies of the Freedom House
Question: The world freedom 2011 report issued by the Freedom House, shows that Azerbaijan still remains a not free country, but a number of other countries in the region changed their position from not free to partially free. Do you see any perspective for Azerbaijan to turn to partially free or a free country in the nearest future?
Answer: The authorities in Azerbaijan have shown no indication of opening space or improving governance for any of the many institutions Freedom House examines in its analysis. Civil society, political parties, freedom of association, functioning of government and rule of law all remain areas that perform very poorly in our analysis. In addition, the November parliamentary elections, and the process leading up to them, were particularly poor, offering no meaningful opportunity for competition. Finally, Azerbaijan performs very poorly on corruption, which is a reflection of the reality that there are no institutions in the country that can hold accountable officials in charge. Widespread corruption effectively serves as a large tax on all of the country’s citizens.
In countries where media freedom is limited, where the parliament is unable to hold accountable the executive and where civil society is prevented from discussing and examining important social and political issues, corruption has an environment to flourish.
The corruption issue is especially important in Azerbaijan due to the fact the society possesses enormous energy wealth. Many observers believe this wealth is not used is a manner that is optimal for ordinary Azerbaijani citizens.
Question: Azerbaijani government clearly declares that it will not change its ways due to the pressures from the West. The government also dismisses human rights organizations, such as Freedom House reports, saying they act like spies. How would you react to such approach?
Answer: In addition to other obligations, Azerbaijan is a member of the Council of Europe and should be adhering to its standards. The abuse and arrests of journalists, for example, is in direct conflict with the standards of the Council. Moreover, in recent years the government of Azerbaijan, according to Freedom House and other monitoring organizations, has been moving in the direction of less accountability and justice.
The government of Azerbaijan should seek to improve its performance to its people because its citizens, many of whom remain very poor in a country with significant resources, seek more responsive and accountable governance.
Question: Unlike previous years, Nagorno-Karabakh territory of Azerbaijan is in Freedom House’s report listed as not free this year. Maybe it sounds ironical, but can this serve as a “consolation” for the Azeri government?
Answer: Nagorno-Karabakh’s poor election process was noted in our review this year and had the effect of moving them into the not free category (“Turan”).