Azerbaijan: Weighing Geo-strategic Interests Against Democracy
4 May 2006

In an April 28 article, the Washington Post reports on the apparent contradiction between America’s human rights and democracy promotion policy and other geo-strategic interests when President Bush hosted the head of Azerbaijan’s undemocratic regime, President Ilham Aliyev, at the White House that day.

The Post article notes that President Bush met with Aliyev despite the “poor” human rights rating his government has received in the State Department human rights report this year. The report cites a State Department assessment as implicating Aliyev’s government in “high levels of corruption and human rights abuses” and accusing it of political repression and prisoner mistreatment.  

According to The Post, Aliyev’s visit underscores the Bush administration’s view that Azerbaijan has a “key role as an alternative to Russia for delivering oil and natural gas to Europe.”  In addition to its importance to the diversification of Europe’s oil supply, The Post notes that Azerbaijan has supplied troops for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The report speculates that Azerbaijan’s proximity to Iran, as well as the large Azerbaijani minority in Iran are potential assets in dealing with the Iran nuclear stand-off.

A May 1 editorial in The Eurasian Monitor, argues for the importance  of strategic cooperation with Azerbaijan based on that country’s role not only an energy producer, but is also an important transit country for the passage of Caspian Sea oil to Europe. The Monitor notes that diversifying Europe’s energy supply is crucial in light of its current dependency on an increasingly hostile and destabilizing Russia. The Monitor asserts, “Europe’s energy security is a prerequisite to transatlantic political solidarity and NATO cohesion” and also points to Azerbaijan’s increasing involvement in NATO-US military operations and its role in “containing the radical Islamist challenges to modernization.”

The Economist, reporting on the presidential meeting, however, warns that this visit is contrary to U.S.’s strategic interests in the long-term.  Tolerating Azerbaijan’s human rights abuses in exchange for political stability today, the Economist argues, will only fuel anti-democratic, anti-West sentiments in the future.