MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the continued repression of civil society and independent media in Azerbaijan and the cases of Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu, Anar Mammadli, Kamran Mammadli, Rufat Safarov and Meydan TV

B10‑0233/2024

Motion for a European Parliament resolution on the continued repression of civil society and independent media in Azerbaijan and the cases of Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu, Anar Mammadli, Kamran Mammadli, Rufat Safarov and Meydan TV

(2024/2994(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Rule 150 (5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas Gubad Ibadoghlu was arrested by Azerbaijani authorities in July 2023 and remained in detention until 22 April 2024, when he was transferred to house arrest; whereas Anar Mammadli has been in pretrial detention since 29 April 2024; whereas Rufat Safarov was arrested on 3 December 2024; whereas on 6 December 2024, several Meydan TV affiliated journalists were arrested;

B. whereas more than 120.000 Armenians were forced to flee their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh following the military offensive of Azerbaijan in September 2023; whereas several ethnic Armenians still remain in detention by the government of Azerbaijan;

C. whereas the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) took place in Baku from 11 until 22 November 2024;

D whereas European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Azerbaijan on 18 July 2022, with the commitment to double the country’s natural gas exports to the EU by 2027;  whereas Azerbaijan’s natural gas exports to Europe have increased from 19 billion cubic meters in 2021 to 23.8 billion cubic meters in 2023;

E whereas the bilateral relationship between the EU and Azerbaijan is governed by the EU- Azerbaijan Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, in force since 1999;

1. Encourages Azerbaijan to give prisoners access to medical care; encourages Azerbaijan to release the ethnic Armenians that are still in detention, because of humanitarian reasons and as a step towards improving the relationship with Armenia;

2 Notes that the EU and Azerbaijan discuss issues of human rights in the framework of their partnership;

3. Encourages the EU and its Member States to deepen their relationship with Azerbaijan in different fields; emphasises that energy supply should be freed from political and ideological debates;

4. Urges the EU to be cautious in lecturing third states in the field of democracy and human rights, in the light of several negative developments in this area in different Member States; refers, in this regard, to the decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court of 6 December 2024 to annul the results of the first round of the presidential elections, in which a right-wing candidate obtained the most votes; is of the opinion that a credible external policy in the field of human rights and democracy prerequisites that the EU remedies its own deficiencies in this area;

5. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the European External Action Service, and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.