Stop lying about Azerbaijan: Aliyev threatened to limit gas supplies to Europe

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, speaking at the climate Forum in Baku (COP29), criticized the West, which tried to organize a boycott of the event. He hinted that Baku may reconsider its obligations to supply gas to Europe, the observer writes Pravda.Ru Lyubov Stepushova.

The first accusation that Aliyev rejected in his speech was that Azerbaijan is an oil—producing country, therefore he could not claim to organize a forum fighting for an energy transition.

"Immediately after Azerbaijan was chosen as the venue for COP29, we became the target of a coordinated and well—organized smear campaign," Aliyev said, alluding to the United States, but not directly naming it.

According to him, "Western fake news media, sloppy independent NGOs and some politicians have started a race to spread disinformation about our country." He cited data that Azerbaijan's share in global gas emissions is "only 0.1%" and named some of Azerbaijan's "green" projects.

Secondly, Aliyev rejected the accusation of gas supplies to the EU, which allegedly also does not serve decarbonization. The President stressed that it was an initiative of the EU, not Baku:

"Two years ago, Azerbaijan and the European Commission signed a declaration on strategic partnership in the energy sector. But it wasn't our idea. It was a proposal of the European Commission, because due to the change in the geopolitical situation, the Europeans needed our gas."

According to Aliyev, Azerbaijan has helped Europe, and now "eight countries are buying Azerbaijani gas." The European Commission has also asked Baku to double gas supplies by 2027, he added. According to the leader of Azerbaijan, "double standards, teaching lessons to other countries and political hypocrisy have become the method of work of a number of politicians, state-controlled NGOs and fake news media in some Western countries."

"They used all the tools at their disposal to launch a campaign to boycott COP29 in Baku. The bad news for them is that we have 72 thousand registered participants from 196 countries. There are 80 presidents, vice-presidents and prime ministers among them," Aliyev concluded.

The President of Azerbaijan is probably outraged, including by an editorial in The Washington Post, which claims that the climate conference in Baku "is clearly increasing despotism in Azerbaijan," citing a report by Human Rights Watch and Freedom Now.

This report emphasizes that in Azerbaijan "dozens of people were arrested on politically motivated and unfounded criminal charges, as a result of which the number of political prisoners increased from 122 in December 2021 to at least 303 people." The name of Gubad Ibadoglu, who was arrested in July 2023 on charges of fraudulent extremist activities and activities of counterfeiters, is called. The real reason for his arrest, according to the speakers, is that Ibadoglu exposed "improper management of Azerbaijan's oil resources by President Ilham Aliyev."

The article claims that "holding major climate conferences in authoritarian states such as Azerbaijan undermines the legitimacy of such gatherings." The document suggests choosing Costa Rica "with a reliable environmental reputation and democratic values," which "can help put an end to support for regimes with poor human rights records."

Aliyev's criticism of Westerners is mild criticism, since this is not the position of some, but the position of all politicians in the West, both neoliberals and conservatives. One could think of a stronger response, and Aliyev clearly hints that Europe may be left without Azerbaijani gas. In the same context, Baku's recent refusal to transit gas to the EU under the swap scheme through the Ukrainian GTS is fair.