[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 11 (Tuesday, February 3, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HUMAN RIGHTS CRISIS IN AZERBAIJAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 3, 2004

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on January 23, 2004, Human Rights Watch 
(HRW) released a dramatic report on the human rights situation in 
Azerbaijan, our ally in the war on terrorism. HRW contends that 
Azerbaijan is experiencing its gravest human rights crisis since it 
gained its independence from the Soviet Union. The report depicts rape, 
electric shock, severe beatings and forced confessions as routine 
weapons of the government against the supporters of the political 
opposition.
  Mr. Speaker, according to the HRW report, ``In the aftermath of the 
election, nearly 1,000 people were arrested, among them opposition 
leaders, local opposition party members, activists of nongovernmental 
organizations (NGOs) who supported the opposition, journalists, and 
election officials and observers who challenged the fraud.'' To date, 
many opposition leaders and their supporters remain in detention with 
no legal representation. Reports of firings from jobs and police 
harassment are widespread throughout the country, and the government of 
Azerbaijan is making few attempts to hide its efforts to crush the 
opposition permanently.
  Heidar Aliev ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist for years, even 
before the country achieved independence. Last summer it began to 
become apparent that, due to ill health, he would be unable to run for 
re-election. With this development, many in Azerbaijan had high hopes 
that they would finally be able to participate in free and fair 
elections. The democratic forces were also buoyed by the fact that 
Azerbaijan became a member of the Council of Europe and that the 
intense scrutiny of the international community would usher in a new 
era of democracy and respect for human rights in the country. These 
hopes were crushed by the government's well-organized campaign to 
ensure the succession of President Aliev's son, Ilham Aliev, to the 
presidency despite the efforts of a sizeable international election 
monitoring team. After Aliev's ``landslide victory,'' the government 
unleashed a brutal campaign against the opposition without any high-
level protest from the international community, including the United 
States.
  Last October, I wrote a letter to the Under Secretary for European 
and Eurasian Affairs, Ambassador A. Elizabeth Jones, and later 
published an op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor, asking the Bush 
administration to hold Aliev's feet to the fire on democracy issues. I 
believe that Azerbaijan, a secular majority-Muslim country, could have 
been an example of pro-American democracy in the Caucasus and Central 
Asia. Instead, the people of Azerbaijan are governed by the first post-
Soviet dynastic transfer of power, setting a negative example 
throughout the region and adversely affecting U.S. national security. 
If the Bush administration takes a strong stance on the post-election 
crackdown in Azerbaijan, it will reinforce its commitment to spreading 
democracy and respect for human rights worldwide.

                          ____________________