Caviar diplomacy is a lobbying strategy of Azerbaijan, consisting of costly invitations and bribes to foreign politicians and employees of international organizations to Azerbaijan at the expense of the host country. Caviar diplomacy also includes expensive gifts presented as "a tribute to the Eastern tradition."Caviar Diplomacy. How Azerbaijan silenced the Council of Europe // ESI, 24 May 2012«Икорная дипломатия» Баку в сфере прав человека // RFE/RL, 12.11.2013Council of Europe plagued by 'caviar diplomacy' // EURACTIV 23 03 2017Will IOG go for Baku's 'caviar diplomacy' ? // Africa Intelligence, 9 02 2017 г. "Baku's "caviar diplomacy" which consisted of buying the good graces of certain members of the Council of Europe"
Terminology The term "caviar diplomacy" was first used in 2012, in a report by the European Stability Initiative (ESI) – "Caviar Diplomacy – How Azerbaijan silenced the Council of Europe". It was noted in the report that this term is being used in informal conversations of Azerbaijani officials to describe generous gifts to foreign politicians.
Investigation of the "European Stability Initiative"
According to the sources of the European Stability Initiative, Azerbaijan has a group of 10-12 friends in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and 3-4 people in the secretariat who receive at least half a kilogram of black caviar (the price on the market is more than 1300 euros per kilogram) as a gift four times a year. Many deputies are invited to Baku and during their visits receive, alongside the caviar, numerous other gifts including: expensive silk carpets, gold and silver items, drinks, and money. In Baku, a common gift is 2 kg of caviar. According to the ESI, outside of PACE, there is no doubt about the state of democracy in Azerbaijan, which is characterized as semi-authoritarian even by its biggest supporters. Nevertheless, despite the fact that there were no opposition parties elected to the Azerbaijani parliament in 2010, the head of the PACE mission stated that the elections corresponded to international standards. According to the ESI, this can be explained only by "caviar diplomacy". The ESI cited an example of PACE discussions in its report, when Azerbaijan was publicly supported by its frequent visitors – British Liberal Democrat Michael Hancock and former Foreign Minister of Estonia Kristiina Ojuland, who, despite the obvious regression in human rights situation in Azerbaijan, the lack of free elections, as well as criticism from international human rights organizations, stated that there are no serious problems in Azerbaijan. The ESI also added to the list of "friends of Azerbaijan" the Belgian Paul Wille, Eduard Lintner from Bavaria, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu from Turkey, Robert Walter from Britain, and a number of Russian representatives.
During the 2008 presidential elections, PACE observers included a large group of frankly pro-Azerbaijani MPs. The variant of the statement on elections, prepared by the head of the group of observers Andres Herkel, containing critical remarks, faced the rejection of the pro-Azerbaijani group consisting of Michael Hancock, Eduard Lintner and Paul Ville. Herkel was forced to declare his resignation if criticism did not go into the statement. During the referendum, which lifted the limits on the number of presidential terms for Ilham Aliyev, four PACE deputies – Eduard Lintner, Paul Wille, Khaki Keskin and Pedro Agramunt evaluated the referendum as the progress of democracy.
In addition to PACE representatives, observers from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE (ODIHR) who have extensive experience of such observations, which revealed numerous violations of the procedure, which exclude the possibility of choice, were also present at the 2010 parliamentary elections. During the meetings of European observers, attended by PACE representatives in the person of Paul Ville and Pole Tadeusz Iwinski, the head of ODIHR observers, Audrey Glover from Great Britain, noted numerous violations that were not contested by PACE representatives. Nevertheless, the preliminary result of PACE monitoring, presented by Paul Ville, noted the compliance of preparations for elections with international standards, as well as transparent and effective work of the organizers. During the election, ODIHR observers recorded multiple violations and unprecedented ballot stuffing. By the closing of polling stations, the elections were assessed by the ODIHR as probably the most fraudulent they monitored. However, speaking on Azerbaijani television, Paul Wille stated that the elections were democratic and that he did not know about any violations. The ODIHR, in turn, subjected the elections to sharp criticism.
When asked if bribes were given to observers, Glover replied that she had not personally received one. After returning from Baku, a representative of the PACE group Wolfgang Grosruck from Germany accused Audrey Glover of being "unreliable", unprofessional, and also of not speaking out in defence of the PACE representatives when questions about bribes were asked. The ODIHR report published in January 2011 contained extremely critical assessments of the 2010 elections.
Investigations of the ESI have received resonance in Russian and international media: EU Observer,Azerbaijani lobbyists target EU opinion Azerbaijani lobbyists target EU opinion // EU Observer, 24 May 2012 Politiken,Grandprix-værter stopper kritik med kaviargaver // Politiken, 26. MAJ. 2012 DR,Aserbajdsjan har held med kaviardiplomati // DR, 26. MAJ. 2012 Radio Sarajevo, BBC,Аналитики из Европы критикуют «икорную дипломатию» Баку // BBC, 13 июня 2012 Der Tagesspiegel,Die Kaviar-Diplomatie // Der Tagesspiegel, 22.10.2012 Africa Intelligence, Neue Zürcher Zeitung,Im Auftrag des Despoten // Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 20.11.2012 The Guardian and others.Europa: El lobby de los dictadores // Proceso, 30 DE ENERO DE 2015«Икорная дипломатия» Азербайджана: в Совете Европы процветает коррупция? // Регнум, 26 Мая 2012
2013 presidential elections On October 9, 2013, Ilham Aliyev was elected Azerbaijan's president for the third time. Observers from the OSCE / ODIHR, led by Italian politician Tana de Zulueta, spoke of restrictions on freedom of speech during elections, while representatives of the European Parliament headed by Pino Arlacchi confirmed free and fair elections.Наблюдательная миссия ОБСЕ подвергла резкой критике выборы // RFE/RL, 10.10.2013 The European Parliament and PACE issued a joint statement in which they highly appraised the elections. A group of observers from the US House of Representatives also acknowledged fair elections.Love Aliyev, love Aliyev not // Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, 17 October 2013
Varying estimates of the elections led to a scandal. On October 11, the representative of the European Union, Catherine Ashton and European Commissioner Stefan Fule, ignored the assessment of the European Parliament, including in its statement the results of the ODIHR.Кэтрин Эштон и Штефан Фюле раскритиковали президентские выборы в Азербайджане // Регнум, 11 Октября 2013 (копия) The Commission on Foreign Relations of the EU discussed the report of Arlacchi. During the discussion, representatives of the "green" condemned the report and said that it discredited the European Parliament. The head of the Socialists' faction in the EU said that the PACE report cannot be considered reliable at all. It later emerged that a number of EU representatives traveled to Azerbaijan unofficially and on the dime of Azerbaijani organizations, which was regarded by European Voice as "stupidity or corruption", these trips were labeled "electoral tourism".MEPs must explain trips to Azerbaijan // EUROPEAN VOICE, 10/16/13 (копия)
The US State Department in its turn discredited the observers from the House of Representatives, describing the elections as not meeting international standards, and expressing solidarity with the ODIHR's assessment.Azerbaijan Presidential Election (Press Statement) // U.S. Department of State, October 10, 2013
Turning point In 2015, during the discussion of the resolution on political prisoners in the European Parliament, the text written by the pro-Azerbaijani rapporteurs initially contained almost no criticism, but as a result, a resolution was adopted calling for Azerbaijan to stop repression of human rights defenders, revising the law on non-governmental organizations, not putting pressure on journalists and there was also a threat of sanctions.The functioning of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan // Parliamentary Assembly, Resolution 2062 (2015) According to the German deputy Frank Schwabe, this was a turning point for Azerbaijan's "caviar diplomacy".Abschied von der «Kaviardiplomatie»? // Der Tagesspiegel, 02.07.2015
On September 10, 2015, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which Azerbaijan was condemned for "unprecedented repression". The resolution also called on the European authorities to conduct a thorough investigation of allegations of corruption against President Aliyev and his family members, and to consider imposing targeted sanctions against officials related to the persecution.EU and Azerbaijan: Breaking Up or Muddling Through? // Eurasianet, September 16, 2015
Investigation of the Italian prosecutor's office and in PACE In June 2016, the Milan prosecutor's office brought charges of corruption and money laundering to Luca Volontè, the former head of the European People's Party faction in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. According to the Prosecutor's Office Volonte received €2.39 million for the support of Azerbaijani officials. Volonte's lawyers called these accusations absolutely groundless. According to the second ESI report – "Caviar Diplomacy. Part 2", published in December 2016, Volonte agreed to cooperate with the investigation and named many European politicians who have been lobbying for the interests of the Azerbaijani authorities. During the interrogations Volonte confirmed receiving €2.39 million for lobbying in favor of Azerbaijan. According to the ESI, the money went to bribing Italian and other politicians who voted against PACE resolutions and reports condemning human rights violations in Azerbaijan.Оппозиция потребовала от властей Азербайджана реакции на доклад о подкупе депутатов ПАСЕ // Кавказский узел, 21 декабря 2016 In the documentary film shown on Italian television, Volonte also confirmed the receipt of €2.39 million, arguing that this money was transferred from a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Elkhan Suleymanov for consultations on agriculture. Payments to Volonte went through four British companies, which, according to The Guardian, did not conduct any operations in Britain and probably are front companies.UK companies 'linked to Azerbaijan pipeline bribery scandal' // The Guardian, 31 December 2016 Part of the money went through Volontè's Novae Terrae Foundation to lobbies Iona Institute, CitizenGO (he was a member of its board), the ECI Mum, Dad & Kids initiative against equal marriage and Dignitatis Humanae Institute.