Brussels, 05/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - European Council President Herman Van Rompuy called on Azerbaijan on Thursday 5 July to take “more steps” to improve civil liberties, it having been accused by NGOs of persecuting opponents and muzzling the media.
“The European Union and the region need a stable, progressive, and tolerant Azerbaijan committed to democratic reforms and modernisation”, he said in Baku, after his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev. Van Rompuy welcomed the release, last week, of nine opposition sympathisers imprisoned for taking part in a demonstration in 2011: “This is a positive step taken by Azerbaijan in its efforts to improve civil and political rights, although more steps are needed”, he suggested. Human rights organisations regularly accuse the regime of authoritarian President Aliev of persecuting journalists and imprisoning opponents, while the authorities argue that the South Caucasian country is a genuine democracy. Van Rompuy congratulated Azerbaijan on its “rapid modernisation” and spoke of the strategic importance of the country in the supply of oil and gas. The EU is very interested in the gas from the Caspian Sea region, as it looks to diversify its energy supplies and reduce dependency on Russia which currently supplies 40% of the EU's needs. Van Rompuy also hailed the agreement reached last week between Azerbaijan and Turkey on the construction of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP), stating that this was a further step towards completion of the Southern Corridor to carry more Caspian gas to Europe. (LC/transl.rt)