Criticism riles Azerbaijan ahead of European Games opening

Pro-government activists protested on Thursday outside European embassies in Baku, as anger rose in Azerbaijan over international criticism of the country's rights record ahead of the opening of the inaugural European Games.

Some 150 activists from pro-government youth groups staged rallies outside the offices of the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the British embassy in Baku, denouncing the "anti-Azerbaijan smear campaign," they claimed is being orchestrated from Western capitals.

"We protest against the ongoing anti-Azerbaijani campaign which is based on false information about our country," protester Asif Askerli of Azerbaijan's Democrat Students Organisation told AFP.

The protesters held placards that read "Leave Azerbaijan alone" and "Do not politicise sports."

They read out a statement denouncing "an unprecedented and dirty campaign of lies against Azerbaijan."

Energy-rich Azerbaijan has pumped vast resources into hosting the first edition of the European Games sporting extravaganza billed as Europe's answer to the Olympics from June 12-28, building state-of-the-art facilities in a bid to burnish its image.
But international and Azerbaijani rights activists have hoped that the glitzy event will draw the world's attention to the widespread rights abuses in tightly-controlled ex-Soviet country.

Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that the Baku 2015 European Games "will open ... in an atmosphere of government repression unprecedented in the post-Soviet era."

The OSCE said on Wednesday Azerbaijan ordered it to shut down its local office ahead of the European Games, while Amnesty International complained the country barred it from visiting the capital.

Amnesty had intended to hold a briefing to highlight a crackdown on journalists, opposition members and activists ahead of the sporting event.

The media freedom advocacy group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, issued on Thursday a statement saying "the press has a unique opportunity to scrutinise this censored and restricted country" during the games.

British group Platform said that one of their activists, Emma Hughes, who had been travelling to support political prisoners, had been detained on arrival in Azerbaijan and told she was on a "red list" of people who cannot enter the country.

Several journalists representing major European media outlets were denied accreditations and visas to cover the games.

Radio France International Caucasus correspondent Regis Gente told AFP that the Azerbaijani authorities refused to explain the reasons behind their decision to deny his visa and accreditation to cover the European Games.

-- Twitter battle --

The International Freedom of Expression (IFEX) group urged international media and rights activists to flood official #Baku2015 hashtag during the European Games "with tweets condemning Azerbaijan's freedom of expression record and demanding freedom for these unjustly imprisoned defenders of free expression."
In a move to counter the effort, Azerbaijan's pro-government APA news agency called on local journalists to launch a Twitter campaign under #Baku2015 hashtag to deliver "true information" about the country.

Rights groups have long accused President Ilham Aliyev's government of using spurious charges to jail its critics and say the authorities have stepped up their campaign to stifle opposition after his election to a third term in 2013.

Aliyev -- who came to power in 2003 following an election seen as flawed by international observers -- strongly denies accusations of rights abuses, while his administration has dismissed criticism as a smear campaign.

He took over after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled newly independent Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 1993.
Source: AFP