BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 12. The Council of Europe, established to protect human rights and democracy, has increasingly become a political tool in recent years. This tool is primarily used against states that follow sovereign, principled, and rational policies, especially those that refuse to yield to false "democracy rhetoric" and political blackmail. Among the countries most affected by this shift is Azerbaijan, which has steadfastly restored its territorial integrity, declared its political subjectivity, and refused to back down in the face of external pressure.
The latest remarks by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Theodoros Rousopoulos, marked a peak in this degeneration. His aggressive, even hysterical rhetoric against Azerbaijan’s President demonstrates not only diplomatic failure but also deep internal political crises within the Council of Europe.
"We are not afraid of other dictators," Rousopoulos stated. Such expressions are unbecoming of the head of an international parliamentary organization, showing a lack of ethics, decorum, and morality. It contradicts the spirit of the Council of Europe's Statute and its fake statements. Publicly branding the democratically elected president of a sovereign state as a "dictator" is not human rights advocacy—it's a form of political blackmail and terrorism.
At a time when Western institutions have lost credibility, countries like Azerbaijan have become pillars of stability, energy security, and political independence.
Rousopoulos falsely claims that the PACE only sought permission to visit the Lachin Corridor and prisons. The reality is that for years, the Assembly has presented the Karabakh conflict solely from an Armenian perspective, consistently overlooking Azerbaijan’s territorial losses, ethnic cleansing, and the destruction of numerous cities and villages. Why has PACE never condemned the systematic destruction of Azerbaijan's cultural and religious heritage in Aghdam, Shusha, Fuzuli, and Zangilan? Why has it never demanded an account from Armenia about the fate of more than 3,800 missing Azerbaijanis, many of whom were prisoners of war and subsequently disappeared?
In January 2024, over 30 proposals were submitted at PACE, primarily by French and Belgian MPs, suggesting sanctions on Azerbaijan for its use of force in Karabakh. These documents are part of the Assembly's official archives, further proving that decisions to punish Azerbaijan after its victory in Karabakh are politically motivated.
Rousopoulos also falsely claimed that President Ilham Aliyev is refusing to implement the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). However, he failed to provide any concrete examples. On the other hand, we can recall the 2015 ECHR ruling in the "Chiragov and Others v. Armenia" case, which stated that Armenia must compensate Azerbaijani refugees from occupied territories. Yet, Armenia openly disregarded this ruling, and the Council of Europe did nothing. Why didn’t they impose sanctions on Armenia? The answer is simple: double standards. This further underscores that the Council of Europe has transformed from a principled institution into a selective body driven by political agendas.
Who is Theodoros Rousopoulos? A former journalist, a member of Greece’s New Democracy Party, and known for his sympathy toward the Armenian lobby and his hardline anti-immigrant stance, Rusopulos is a political figure whose rise to PACE's presidency was achieved not through democratic processes but behind-the-scenes agreements. It is worth noting that Rusopulos was involved in a corruption scandal in Greece in 2004 when he was the government's spokesperson, participating in efforts to conceal information about corruption from the media. Now, this person speaks of law and justice...
"We are not afraid of Baku," Rousopoulos says. Yet, fear drives him to break diplomatic norms, engage in political buffoonery, and behave rudely. It is the fear of Azerbaijan’s growing international influence, energy resources, strategic position, and independent policy. Instead of accepting this reality, Rousopoulos attempts to cover it up with emotional outbursts. As a failed representative of Western elites, he presents his personal insecurities as a "principled stance."
Today, PACE is no longer an institution but a staged theatrical performance. There is no equality in this theater—only directors and puppets. Rousopoulos is a bad director: shouting, accusing, lying, but the audience is increasingly dwindling. Azerbaijan is one of the first countries to leave this theater with its head held high. President Ilham Aliyev was right: the world is indeed changing. This is the era of sovereignties. It is an era where the old, hypocritical, and neo-colonial approaches hidden behind the mask of the "Council of Europe" are no longer relevant. Azerbaijan will no longer play by these rules.
In his speech, Rousopoulos claims that Azerbaijan has refused to cooperate with the Council of Europe for two years. However, he forgets that during these two years, PACE has engaged in political pressure rather than cooperation. No inquiry, statement, or delegation aimed at objective evaluation took place. The reports and resolutions were based on pre-written scripts, formed in Armenian-friendly centers in Brussels and Paris. As French MP Jacques Mer put it, "The Council of Europe has become a tool for fighting the 'undesirable' rather than a forum for dialogue. Azerbaijan was the first victim, but it certainly won’t be the last."
An understanding is forming within the Council of Europe that Azerbaijan is being punished not for its actions but for its principles. Azerbaijan refused to be an object. It refused to ask for permission to breathe.
If Rousopoulos truly cares about human rights, he should look at the reports released before 2020 by organizations like the UN, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch regarding Karabakh. These documents highlight ethnic cleansing in Khojaly, Shusha, and Kalbajar, mass graves discovered in Khojavend and Fuzuli, and the destruction of mosques turned into pigsties. Not a single PACE body, including the Parliamentary Assembly, has ever sent a mission to investigate these crimes. Isn’t this political blindness and bias?
The reality is that PACE’s hysteria over human rights is tied not to law but to geopolitical interests. The real reason is energy and strategic concerns. Azerbaijan no longer accepts the old European conditions of "play by our rules, or we won’t let you into the club." Instead, Azerbaijan sets its own terms, opens new corridors, exports gas, invests in the Turkic world and Central Asia, and cooperates with China and Türkiye. As Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, confirmed in July 2022: "Azerbaijan is a reliable partner, and we want to double gas supplies with them by 2027." How can the same actor be called a "dictatorship" on one hand, and a "reliable partner" on the other? This is classic Western hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance. And to conceal this dissonance, dirty work is assigned to figures like Rousopoulos. By attacking Azerbaijan, he tries to cover up the hypocrisy that is being formulated in the backrooms of Brussels and Strasbourg. Those who beg for Azerbaijani gas behind closed doors are now trying to slander it in the public eye.
Azerbaijan has already proven that it can protect its honor, interests, and people—whether on the battlefield, at the diplomatic table, in the energy sector, or in the cultural field. Exiting PACE (which, in fact, has already happened) is not a sign of weakness, but a release from a burdensome and useless load. Today, every alliance must be based on practical interests. Azerbaijan is moving according to this principle: bilateral relations, interest-based alliances, and strategic projects. In this context, Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov's words are relevant: "The Council of Europe has become a tool of pressure. We are not interested in participating in a staged performance where roles are distributed according to pre-written scripts."
Theodoros Rousopoulos tries to present himself as a champion of democracy, but behind his pompous rhetoric, there is something else—anxiety, helplessness, and the fear of losing control over the last moral monopoly. Rousopoulos is the mouthpiece of an old, outdated order. No matter how loudly they deny it, fear resides within their miserable soulы. History will set everything right, and when the pages of the Council of Europe are rewritten in history books, Rousopoulos' name will be cited not alongside the human rights declaration but as an example of how the collective West’s sense of morality and justice crumbled.
This is the fate of political buffoons...
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