Armenia's European Friends Counter Caviar Motivated Politicians

BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 8, ARMENPRESS: The essence of Azerbaijan’s "caviar diplomacy" is widely discussed by various structures of the international community. Armenpress had an interview with the Secretary-General of the EuFoA-Dr. Michael Kambeck about Azeri multi-million spending on anti- Armenian propaganda, as well as on the activities of the "European Friends of Armenia".

-Armenpress:Dr. Kambeck, Azerbaijani high-ranking officials, including President Aliyev, often describe Armenian lobbying as the biggest threat. Whereas in reality we have a completely different picture in Brussels, with the increasing number of different Azerbaijani organizations such as the European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) and the Office of Communication of Azerbaijan (OCAZ).

- This is true, but if I express any opinion on their activities it will be considered as biased. So I better refer you to an interesting summery published by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a London based not-for-profit organization. They have well summarized who is behind TEAS i.e. the son of Azerbaijan’s Minister for Emergency Situations, Kamaladdin Heydarov. The fact of “caviar diplomacy” and luxurious trips to Azerbaijan were all well illustrated in the article. TEAS became active in Brussels shortly after EuFoA was established (2009). From our experience and observations, in most cases this type of lobbying takes an effect but very quickly the involved persons realize that they have been used and thus do not stay committed for a long time. Only very few do stay committed to Azerbaijan, whatever their motivations are. It is up to investigative journalism to uncover this.

Armenpress: How do they conduct their lobbying in the EP?

-Dr. Kambeck: They provide their own MEPs and coordinate an Azerbaijani secret friendship group within the institution. I call it secret, because the membership is secret. MEP Evgeni Kirilov (Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats (S&D), Bulgaria) once mentioned that he was a member of that group though without specifying his concrete function. It is until now unclear who covers the expenses of this group and there is no public information either on the web or somewhere else. We believe that these types of activities are against the spirit and the letter of European lobbying rules.

-Armenpress: Could you please bring concrete examples?

Dr. Kambeck: We had two resolutions on Armenia and Azerbaijan in the spring session (April, Strasburg week) of the EP. The friendship group was very active. We had amendments circulated in the EP which strangely enough matched with the statements of Azerbaijani officials, published on official governmental sites, even including grammatical mistakes. This has been tabled by totally different people from different groups. Obviously, it was drafted outside of the EP and not by the MEPs themselves.

A more recent example concerns MEP Inese Vaidere (European People’s Party (EPP), Latvia) who circulated an email on 12 September about the Safarov case in the EP (one day before the resolution’s adoption), spreading objectively false information about Garabedyan’s case, obviously given by an Azeri source. Despite the whole machinery of Azeri lobbying, this case did not get into the final version of the resolution, as several MEPs requested both from us and other sources a verification of the information about Mr. Garabedyan. When MEPs saw that no parallels could be drawn, they deleted the respective line. Unfortunately, the European Parliament is not the only institution where an Armenophobic strategy is attempted by Azerbaijan. They try to reach as many national parliaments in Europe as possible and this is a very dangerous pattern. Look at the national parliaments where Azerbaijan tries to push for resolutions for the commemoration of what they call the “Khojali genocide”, without providing reliable information, for example the UN documentation on that case.

Some innocent and poorly informed MPs, some even with best intentions, follow this line. This is a misuse of naivety and lack of knowledge. We have just stopped this type of resolution in Rome. The wider public is not informed about how many agencies Azerbaijan hired in most EU capitals to back up their activities. For example, we were informed that Hans-Dietrich Genscher (former Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor of Germany) called an MEP to talk about the April resolutions. He is a board member of Consultum, a PR agency working for Azerbaijan in Berlin. Another example of how bad lobbying is conducted: the case of MEP Vytautas Landsbergis, Vice Chair of the EP’s South Caucasus Delegation (EPP, Lithuania). I respect him for what he has done for his country. However, with his age and convictions he seems to be Russo- and Armenophobic. He normally does not travel due to his health condition. Yet, during the April Strasburg week, where EP reports on Armenia and Azerbaijan where discussed, he was quoted by Azeri media as just having been in Baku and meeting President Aliyev.

Then, in the same week, on the voting day he walks into the EP plenary. So he took the trouble to travel to Baku and then be back in time on the voting day in Strasburg, which is logistically very complicated. A source told us that he used a private jet but we were not able to verify the information. The online news service ‘EU Observer’ questioned him about the same issue and he refused to elaborate as to who paid for his trip to Baku and back. He then presented a last-minute oral amendment, introducing the official Azerbaijani demand on “first” withdrawing troops from Karabakh, contrary to the Minsk Group’s Madrid Principles, which the EP has always strongly supported.

According to the rules of procedure, such last-minute oral amendments cannot be admitted in the Parliament if a group of MEPs disagrees – which was the case. But the EP staff made a mistake and allowed voting, thus mistakenly amending the final text, even though it was agreed that both resolutions on Armenia and Azerbaijan will have the same wording on NK, i.e. in line with the Minsk Group principles. The text immediately appeared in Azeri media, stating that the EP fully side-lines with the Azerbaijani position of an unconditional withdrawal of troops. For many experienced MEPs with years of experience in the EP it was a shock to see such things happening, because Mr. Landsbergis knew that his own group was against such an amendment. But apparently he had a reason to show that he was trying “something” pro-Azeri, and by mistake, he even managed. Some days later, the Conference of Presidents reversed this mistake and Mr. Landsbergis was cautioned in the EPP group for his behavior. Armenia is constantly running against this type of activities all around Europe. The Azerbaijani embassies are very well equipped and have more staff than the Armenian ones.

I believe that Armenia should reinforce the strength of the embassies in the EU as much as possible.

Armenpress: Could you please elaborate on ALDE’s (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) last minute decision to vote against the Safarov resolution? They were one of the initiators of the resolution – weren’t there questions raised within the Parliament as to why it happened?

Dr. Kambeck: Yes, this surprised many and this question was raised during the debate in the plenary. One day before the resolution was voted, the Chairman of Azerbaijani Delegation to the EURONEST PA - Elkhan Suleymanov - published an article in the Azeri press in which he publicly boasted about having flipped around the ALDE group not to vote on their own resolution, using MEP Norica Nicolai (Romania, ALDE). Armenpress: How then do you counter misinformation? Dr. Kambeck: By showing to the decision makers that some forces are playing with them. We provide facts and figures, reliable sources where the information can be checked. Over the years we have become a credible source of information and people ask us for our views. By now, MEPs and other decision makers know they can rely on us.

By Emma Argutyan