Formula 1 takes place half a mile from Armenian captives - British journalist

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS. British journalist  Dominic Lawson  has published an extensive article in The Times titled 'The Day of Fast Cars and Genocidal Maniacs in Azerbaijan.' The article covers the Formula 1 Grand Prix taking place in Azerbaijan and addresses the issue of Armenian captives detained in the country.

The British journalist writes in the article that just half a mile from where the drivers race through the streets of Azerbaijan’s capital is the State Security Service headquarters. In its cells — among many other political prisoners — former high-ranking officials of Nagorno-Karabakh, who were illegally taken hostage after being captured last year, are being tortured.

“Greg Maffei, head of Liberty Media, which owns the F1 business, has criticised the holding of one of its races there, but said that such events were in “places like Baku” because they had paid such large sums for the privilege — a succinct description of what has become known as “sportswashing”.

"But Ilham Aliyev, who took over from his father as the president of Azerbaijan in 2003, and appointed his wife vice-president, is also the latest example of how autocratic petro-states are cloaking themselves in the sanctimony of the fight against climate change. For in November Baku will host Cop29 — the annual UN conference on climate change. Aliyev has the audacity — given his recent actions — to declare it will be “the Cop of peace”, the journalist noted.

The British journalist has pointed out that the bulk of Azerbaijan’s GDP and approximately 90 per cent of its export revenues are the fruits of oil and gas production.

“Is this a message that Aliyev wants his country to become a post-hydrocarbon economy? The reverse. At last year’s Cop assembly he declared: “As head of a country rich in fossil fuels, of course we will defend the right of these countries to continue investments and production.” He has also referred to Azerbaijan’s oil and gas reserves as 'a gift of the gods''' the journalist mentioned.

“But it seems Azerbaijan was increasing its own imports of Russian gas, even as it had been stepping up its exports to the EU. One expert in this field, Gubad Ibadoghlu of the London School of Economics, has written that “the only viable way” Azerbaijan could fulfil its new obligations to the EU was to buy in more gas from Moscow (to shove back down the pipelines to Europe).

One thing clear in this murky business is that President Aliyev and President Putin enjoy the best of relations. The Azeri leader welcomed the Russian to Baku in August, returning the hospitality he had received at the Kremlin four months earlier. This casts light on the fact that Russia, which had long guaranteed Armenia’s borders, did not come to its aid when Azerbaijan invaded last year,” reads the article.