Forbes: Azerbaijan is one of the world’s most repressive regimes and it’s ridiculous if Azerbaijan sets an example to Iran
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It is ridiculous to set Azerbaijan as an example of a model of democratic reforms to other countries, writes Mark Adomanis in his article published in the Forbes.com. Adomanis touches upon the article of the former United States ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza and calls it "stunning” because it’s exceedingly rare to see a country with a human rights record as unremittingly bad as Azerbaijan’s feted for its efforts at "reform.”
As Adomanis writes Matthew Bryza wrote an article whish said that "struggling reformers in Iran can look for inspiration to neighboring Azerbaijan.” According to Adomanis this idea of the former ambassador has no criticism.
Azerbaijan is widely regarded as one of the most repressive regimes in the world. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2012 democracy index Azerbaijan is in 139th place with a score of 3.15. Freedom House also ranks Azerbaijan as "not free”. In that regard as the author says it is, of course, ridiculous to bring Azerbaijan as an example.
"Should the West still engage with Azerbaijan? Sure. I think the West should "engage” with virtually every country (please note that by "engage with” I absolutely do not intend to say "become friends with - author). But we should not pretend that by engaging with a thoroughly unrepresentative and authoritarian government that we are doing anything to promote our values. We’re not. The Azeri government does not share the West’s values, which is precisely why it is consistently ranked by a wide range of independent institutions as one of the world’s most closed political systems,” notes Mark Adomanis.
And adds, that there is always a conflict between interests and values, and engagement with countries like Azerbaijan makes this trade-off particularly stark. "So go ahead and work with the Azeris all you want, but don’t have any illusions about whom you are working with,” concludes the author.
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