President Ilham Aliyev announced that Azerbaijan is actively considering withdrawing from the Council of Europe unless the organization fully restores the voting rights of its delegation.
The political standoff stems from a 2024 decision by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to suspend the voting credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation over human rights and democratic governance concerns. Speaking at the Global Media Forum in Shusha, Aliyev revealed that the Council’s newly appointed Secretary General, Alain Berset, personally reached out to Baku urging the government to reconsider a total exit and instead seek a collaborative compromise.
Baku Demands an Admission of Error
Despite Western pressure, President Aliyev maintained a defiant posture, firmly rejecting the original PACE sanctions as politically motivated and groundless.
┌── Conditional Return: Azerbaijan will only rejoin PACE sessions once vote is restored.
BAKU'S ULTIMATUM ┼── Complete Denial: Aliyev maintains Azerbaijan committed "no wrongdoing."
└── Organizational Shift: Demands the Council of Europe admit its "unjust" mistake.
Azerbaijan has maintained membership in the 46-nation human rights body since 2001. Aliyev made it clear that the ball is now entirely in Strasbourg’s court:
“The Council of Europe must restore the voting rights of our delegation. After that, the delegation of Azerbaijan will return. Baku has done nothing wrong; the suspension was completely unjust. The organization must accept its mistakes and change its stance.” — Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan
Strategic EU Energy Alliances and Global Appeals
While relations with the Council of Europe—which operates independently of the European Union—remain deeply strained, Aliyev drew a sharp contrast with Baku’s booming bilateral ties with Brussels.
The President highlighted recent high-level visits by top EU officials to Baku, pointing to growing economic and energy partnerships as evidence of Azerbaijan’s critical geopolitical importance to mainstream Europe.
Key Takeaways from the Shusha Global Media Forum
Beyond the European standoff, President Aliyev utilized the international platform to address broader global instability and outline his administration’s foreign policy priorities:
- Middle East De-escalation: Aliyev issued a direct call for maximum restraint regarding recent military escalations in the Middle East, expressing hope that the fighting would not break out into a prolonged regional war.
- International Law Primacy: The President emphasized that any long-term global peace “must be fair and based strictly on international law, not on individual ambitions or hidden agendas.”
- The Media and AI Era: Forum participants gathered in the symbolically significant city of Shusha to debate the evolving role of journalism in conflict resolution, the fight against state-sponsored disinformation, and the explosive impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on global news distribution.
