Oruj noted that he does not doubt that this position will continue.
"The reasons for this are not linked to the internal life in Azerbaijan in any way. This is rather geopolitics and is the failure of the expectations European authorities had long expected from our country,” he said.
According to the MP, what the resolution calls for is not linked to the factor of democracy in any way.
"The West is trying to use the Council of Europe and the European Parliament as a tool in order to exert pressure on Azerbaijan’s political and economic course, and its international relations.
Zahid Oruj said that in fact this resolution had been prepared in Azerbaijan.
“It’s simply that instructions, theses, the “strike!” order in newspapers, intelligence and espionage data obtained by employees of those countries here in Azerbaijan sent daily to different parties over the past period, this time were sent to the European Parliament and read out from there. That is because the issues mentioned [in the resolution] are so domestic that they cannot only have been obtained without political observations within the country or intelligence data,” he said.
The MP thinks that the European Parliament’s position is intended to exert pressure on Azerbaijan.
“In case the sanctions on countries like Iran and Cuba are lifted and imposed on Azerbaijan which has been suffering from invasion, it will have exposed what mentalities the parliamentarians who pretend to be striving for democratic ambitions actually possess. It turns out that the invader is rewarded more than the sufferer. If this resolution is intended for democracy, the state of Syrians who are streaming into Europe risking their lives is a visual indicative of it. The ultimate consequence of the democracy that is spread over weapons is already see-through,” Oruj added.
The MP said such documents have no enough power to prevent Azerbaijan from pursuing its sound policy.
The resolution was adopted by 365 votes to 202, with 72 abstentions.
The resolution calls for the immediate and unconditional release from jail of all political prisoners, human rights defenders, journalists and other civil society activists in line with the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights. It demands that the Azerbaijan government immediately end its crackdown on civil society and human rights work and says that "the negotiations for a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Azerbaijan should be immediately put on hold as long the government fails to take concrete steps in advancing respect for universal human rights". The resolution calls on the Commission "to review and suspend temporarily, if needed, all funding not related to human rights, civil society and grassroots level people-to-people cooperation granted to Azerbaijan through the European Neighborhood Instrument.
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on Azerbaijan
In addition, the European Parliament stresses the importance of sending its delegation as soon as possible in order to engage with the Azerbaijani authorities on urgent issues such as human rights and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It also underlines the importance of serious and mutually respectful dialogue between the EU and the government of Azerbaijan, the opposition forces and civil society.
The Parliament calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to cooperate with and facilitate visits by representatives of regional organizations such as the Council of Europe and the OCSE strongly deplores the decision of the Azerbaijani authorities to close the OCSE offices in Baku.
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